The Legend of Spyro: Truth and Purpose
by Her0ofWinds
Summary: William Alexander is a high school student who often wonders what his purpose in life is. He wakes up in Avalar, which he finds to be the home of dragons, cheetahs and moles alike. He begins to discover his potential and abilities in the city of Warfang with his new friends Spyro and Cynder. After journeying to stop Malefor destroying the world, he discovers his true self.
1. Prologue - Happenings

**A/N: A new story, the one I promised oh-so-long-ago. This means A Friendships Tale is on hold until further notice and The Key of Convexity be updated alternate to this story… or something. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Legend of Spyro franchise in any way, shape or form. I only own the OC in this chapter… so far.**

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Prologue – Happenings

William Alexander was an ordinary, Australian high school student of fifteen. He was the sort of person who knew many things, the majority were given by his school, but he wasn't the nerdy type. At best, he was a bit geeky; a fan of games in a range of many. William tried to be a respectable person: well dressed with white buttoned shirt and navy shorts most days, light brown medium hair that was side-swept at the fringe. He even had a silver, decorated, exoskeleton pocket-watch that he kept with him. His reputation at school was discreet mostly, he had a few friends and knew several people in his year level. Despite that, no-one seemed to notice or care too much about him, and this didn't bother William much.

* * *

William was heading home from school, walking was his preferred method. It was sunny with white puffy clouds strewn all over the sky. Some of them took shapes of flying creatures, at least to William; because he, being observant as he was, saw the perfect shape of bird-like and dragon-like creatures in flight. Some were menacing, and some were seemingly playing. He often wandered if dragons did exist and where they reside or once resided. It was a small dream of his that he encounter a dragon his age and become friends with it. But he knew deep in his heart, that that would be impossible, but his heart still held on to hope.

William rounded a corner to the quiet, suburban street ahead of him. It was fairly long, two blocks at least and there was no-one else on it. William commonly took this time to listen to music on his phone; songs he thought sounded good or tunes from his favourite game, 'The Legend of Zelda'. He did just this and started to play 'Viva La Vida', probably one of his favourite songs. William looked down at his feet, following the pattern of the bricked pathway with his eyes briefly. He then looked up again, seeing a figure at the end of the street. It didn't seem to be walking at all, completely stationary with its head turned the other way.

"_Wonder what he's doing_," thought the puzzled William, "_He's just… standing there_."

At that point, the figure, an average sized man it appeared, turned around to face the now approaching William. He was dressed in a pure white suit, even with white shoes and tie. His hair was short and black, well groomed too, and he was devoid of facial hair. William could only assume that he was a well-respected business man, but the colour of his suit didn't match the standard colours of the general office worker. William halted in front of the man, looking at him curiously. The man didn't show emotion of irritation or impatience; he actually had an expressionless face. He looked at William and then looked to the sky earning a confused frown from William. William looked up too and saw nothing of significance, just a cloud that looked like another winged creature. Still frowning, William looked back at the man; but he was no longer there. Confused, William spun his head in all directions, trying to locate the mysterious man.

"_Wher–, what_," thought William, "_He's gone_?_ How_?"

There was a loud crack of thunder above William, no lighting and no rain. William immediately looked at the sky, squinting from the glare of the Sun. Another crack of thunder sounded, and another. William looked back in front of him to see the man once more, smiling.

"What the hell is–?"

William was cut off as the man suddenly grabbed his arm. William had no chance to struggle as his surroundings disappeared and his vision turned to black.

* * *

Nothing. That was all there was: nothing. William was in nothing; surrounded by void, not knowing if standing or floating… or falling. William checked himself, his vital signs still there, vision still working and his mind still with him. He took a heavy sigh of relief before realising where he was; rather, where he wasn't. A voice boomed before him, paralysing him with fear. He dare not move, his heart was racing and his steady breathing becoming a pant.

"William," the voice began, "be not afraid, for you are in the presence of the Creator."

"_The Creator!? What!?_" exclaimed William's thoughts.

"I know that you have wondered your purpose in life, what you are destined for," he continued, "Be assured that you do have purpose, but not among your kind; those created in my image."

"Then where am I to be," trembled William, fear having a hold in his voice, "The entire planet is populated with humans."

"There is another place, a different world," the Creator replied, "A place untouched by human-kind, pure in nature. It is populated by others; creatures you have not encountered before and other animals. The animals are similar to ones found on Earth, but they are different to what Earth has, they have the gift of sentience."

"Sentient animals? Different to ones on Earth? Do they know about humans?" asked William, belief dwindling.

"No, they are unaware of human-kind. They themselves have developed technologies that humans have done in past centuries, but they are not at the same stage. I know that you do not like the technology of your era, so this must serve as relief to you. They are still primitive though: the sword and shield, the bow and arrow, the spear and javelin."

William was in fact relieved. He hated the changes the world had gone through. The technology was so advanced and everyone depended on it so heavily. He himself has done so, but he still didn't like it. He preferred the idea of times when everything was simple.

"What am I to do in this new world," asked William curiosity taking the better of him, "you said I have purpose there?"

"I cannot reveal anything more about your purpose," replied the Creator, "That is for you to discover. You do belong in that world, you are meant to be there. You will discover what potential you have there and what you really are."

"Potential?"

The Creator's words befuddled William. It was all so sudden, a lot needed to be taken in and a lot needed to be answered.

"I will aide you when you arrive," the Creator stated, "you will be given the necessary skills and attributes to survive and some items you will require."

William's vision began to become whiter and brighter and the words of the Creator echoed in his mind.

"Wait," pleaded William extending his arm, "I have so many questions."

"In time… In time you will find what you must know."

The voice was no more. White was all William could see, if he was seeing at all. His conscience began to pull him to consciousness. His eyes flickered open slowly and then they shut again. He then abruptly opened them, his vision blurry and his head spinning from the words spoken to him. Where had he gone? Where had he been sent too? Both the same… but no answer came.

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**A/N: Hope you enjoyed the prologue. Give a review if you want to. Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 1 - The New World

**A/N: Back with the next chapter of the story. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Spyro franchise. I only own my OC William Alexander… so far.**

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Chapter 1 – The New World

William could feel his head pressed against the ground; what ground was it? Earth's? It was hard, not like stone or pavement, but solid nonetheless. William's senses began to reactivate as consciousness took over. He placed his hands by his side and moved them about to feel the ground. It was grass as far as William could tell; the individual blades were tickling his fingers as they swept over. His eyes opened, slowly at first so they could adjust to the light. When he got used to the brightness, he opened them more quickly. The blue sky above him was relieving, white clouds moving with the wind and two birds flying past. At least he thought they were birds. They were larger than what he'd expect and they didn't look like they were flying close either, but the size looked almost right from his perspective.

"_What are they_?" he thought, "_Aren't birds smaller or am I hallucinating_?"

William sat up and he took a deep breath. The air smelt clean, cleaner than the air he was used to. Was he still on Earth? He looked around himself to see he was in a clearing surrounded by forest. The foliage was of many shades of green, more than he thought existed.

"_I guess art would have helped me determine the many shades of green here_," he pondered, "_But then again, maybe not_."

William continued to stare into the forest around him; there was wildlife appearing in and out of the bushes and trees, in an array of many colours. He then began to focus on the sounds he heard. Birds were chattering at different pitches and volumes. The wind swayed the trees back and forth causing the leaves and branches to rattle. At this point, William decided that he had used enough time to gather his senses. William then walked a few meters to his left, checking his surroundings once more, looking for a way to go.

"_Well I don't think I'm anywhere near home at least_," thought William, "_I could be still on Earth, but… it doesn't look like it. I should probably find some shelter before dark_."

William peered down while he was thinking and saw a small bag of sorts. It actually looked more like a sack, old, brown and made from some kind of fibre. He knelt down to look inside and then opened the top. Inside of the sack was a series of objects clumped together. One by one, William took the objects out and lay them beside him. Once the sack was empty, he tossed it aside and looked at the objects before him.

"_It seems that the Creator wasn't lying_," mused William, "_These are going to be helpful I reckon_."

The Creator had indeed given items to him, just as he said he would. There was a bronze compass, two pieces of flint, a brown belt with what some pouches attached, a small black lantern full of oil, a brown wooden pipe and a small box of matches. His silver watch was also among them.

"When did I even lose my watch!" he exclaimed, "What do I still have on me?"

William checked his pockets and pulled out everything inside. He had his phone and earbuds still.

"_Music for morale I suppose_."

He also had a small telescope like he had back on Earth, but upon looking down the eyepiece, he found it to be a bit more powerful than the one he had. William also found he no longer had his regular school attire on, but rather, some more comfortable and casual clothes. He was wearing a green buttoned shirt, no pockets and longer sleaves that went half-way to his elbow. He also had a pair of dark blue denim jeans, standard with pockets except the rear and they went down so they were touching his shoes perfectly. His shoes were sneakers, mostly black with orange laces and orange stripes patterning the shoe. The sole was white rimmed and the base was black.

"_I think I've lost the respectable prose I once had... dammit_."

The sky was still alive the Sun was nearing the top. William checked his watch, hoping it was even in tune with day cycle. It read 11:17, it was well and truly time to move on. William picked up the belt and put it around his waist, securing it tightly. He put his phone in his left pocket and his watch in his right. The compass and telescope he placed in the front left pouch, the pipe and matches to the right of that pouch, and the flint in the pouch to the right of that.

"_What do I need a pipe for!_" exclaimed William's mind, "_I don't even smoke and I wasn't even allowed to. It was against the law. I'll take it anyway; nothing to smoke anyways_."

William attached the fully oiled lantern on a clip on the back right of the belt. Walking was the only thing on William's mind; he knew that survival was essential now and with no method of protection, he would have to be quick and silent.

The words of the Creator re-entered William's mind, "_This world is populated by others; creatures you have not encountered before and other animals_." What that could mean was anyone's guess. Civilisation was what William was hoping for; sentient animals with technology would probably mean civilisation of some kind. But these thoughts were quickly dismissed, for safety and shelter was the main priority. William did want to see what abilities the Creator had promised him though. He had no clue what he would be able to do, and in a dangerous situation, it could prove helpful to know about anything he wasn't able to do before.

He walked up to a fairly large tree, waiting to see if he could feel any nagging impulses. Something did feel different; it wasn't an urge to do something though, rather the idea. Getting his bearings was the most appealing thing to William, and the best way he could think of doing it was to scale the tree all the way to the top. This was very unusual for William and he knew perfectly well that he has had a fear of heights, but it didn't seem to bother him. William decided that climbing the tree would be for the best. And so he stepped back a distance of about three meters and ran at the tree. As it was right in front of him, he placed his right foot against the trunk and pushed off the ground, placing his left foot higher up. Grabbing on to the closest branch and hauling himself up before he could fall, William felt a small sense of accomplishment. The feat he had done was a first for him, he didn't know how to or when to do it; it all felt natural to him.

"_I can't believe I just did something akin to an assassin in 'Assassin's Creed'_," thought William, excitement rushing through his body, "_I wonder if I can do all the things those assassins could do_."

A dangerous and risky idea popped into William's head: jumping off a tall tree into a bush.

"_Is it possible? Or would I just be falling to my death_."

He weighed up the situation before him, thinking about whether it was worth the risk. Dying was less than appealing to William, especially since he only just got to the new world. So, he decided against plunging to his doom and instead resumed climbing the tree to the peak.

At the top, William could see everything around him. Using his compass, he was able to deduce where North was. To the West was a vast river, kilometres upon kilometres long, stretching as far as the horizon, in the sunlight the river looked like it was molten silver.

"A sight to behold," stated William, awestruck by the beauty of the river, "I think I'll call that the 'Silver River'. Unoriginal, but true to its name."

To the East was a valley, filled with greenery and streams and waterfalls. As beautiful as the river, it looked like a place of peace and harmony. William pulled out the telescope for a better look of the valley and saw several structures along the coast of one of the longer streams.

"Who wouldn't want to live there?" he asked himself, "That valley must be fruitful to many creatures. The buildings look old and ruined… something bad must have happened to drive people away."

He shook this thought away to look around some more. To the South was more forest, nothing interesting, but to the South-east was a large clearing with a large waterfall pouring its water to the pool below. The sunlight made the water twinkle and sparkle as it fell. It looked like a good place for people to settle, but upon closer inspection, there didn't seem to be anything, houses or even ruins.

"_What could be holding anyone back from there? It looks like a fine place to be_."

To the North, William could barely see a thing, unlike South however, there was something there. Using his telescope for added distance, William could see the outline of something big, **very** big. It was also quite tall if perspective was any indication.

"Could that be a city?" wondered William, "I sure hope so. It's so far away and I can't get there in time before sundown."

He sighed from disappointment and shook his head lightly. He took one last look at the city before noticing something to its right. In the North north-easterly direction was a mountain of some kind, very dark too. It didn't look like it had any greenery on it, or any snow at the top. William knew of no mountain that tall without anything at the top… except for volcanoes. Volcanoes of course would be black from the basalt and obsidian and the lack of greenery or snow would be from the lava.

"A city so close to a volcano. I wonder if anything terrible happens or has happened to the city. If Pompeii was any indication…"

William let his words drift off. Such a dreadful thought to think! He scolded himself for even considering it. He had wasted enough time getting his bearings and he needed to make a beeline for the city. He began to descend from the tree and at the lowest branch, he jumped to the ground. The impact wasn't enough to hurt him, but it was uncomfortable with the lantern strapped behind him.

Standing back up, William made his way north to the large city, his mind set on nothing else. There was a rustle in the bushes to his left, making him stop and wait, listening for any further noise. When none came, he continued on his way, whistling as he went.

In the bushes however, a small ape was waiting, staring at the creature that was alien to him with curiosity and satisfaction.

"_The captain would love to hear about this little maggot_," it thought and chuckled hideously to itself, "_A creature that could be of great use to us… to him_."

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**A/N: Did you like it? I thought it was good because I know where it's going. Review if you would like to. Hope you enjoyed. Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 2 - The Plan

**A/N: Chapter three is here! Yaaay! Review if you would like to. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Legend of Spyro series. I only own my OC, William Alexander.**

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Chapter 2 – The Plan

To the East of Twilight Falls was a dark and evil mountain. And in that mountain were a series catacombs and from above, a battle of good and evil, friendship and dominance took place; and where time had frozen. A single, lone cheetah, a master in agility and precision, took it upon himself to find the remnants of that battle and undo what time had done. He succeeded, leading two dragons and a dragonfly from the catacombs and to the edge of Twilight Falls. At the edge of the main pool, they stopped and rested. The sky was orange and pink and blue, the sun was on the edge of the horizon; it was dusk, getting close to night.

"Dragons," began the cheetah, "those snakes keeping you bound together must be removed at all costs."

"Well what happens if they're not," asked the female dragon.

"The magic used to forge them… it's strong and purposed to stay strong. Those snakes would remain around your necks for eternity if they're not removed within seven days since locking."

"So we'd be bound forever," queried the male dragon, "Never able to part?"

The cheetah shook his head, making both the dragons sigh. The dragonfly was buzzing around the male dragon's head while the exchange of words took place. He had heard everything and it was all bad news for him.

"Aww come 'on," it complained, "I don't want to be greeted with snarls and swipes from demon girl every time I say 'Hi' to Spyro."

"If you're not careful with your words," threatened the dragoness, "you'll be met with more than a swipe."

"Cynder, Sparx, please," the dragon, Spryo, tried to negotiate, "could we sort this out without a funeral?"

The dragoness, Cynder, rolled her eyes and reluctantly agreed to not killing the dragonfly, Sparx… yet. Sparx crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out at Cynder and turned to face the cheetah again.

"So almighty Hunter," mocked Sparx, "what do they have to do to get the collars off?"

Hunter glared at Sparx for his disrespectful attitude before continuing.

"Spyro, Cynder, in order for those collars to release their grasp, their master… their creator must reverse the magic."

"Who made the collars," asked Spyro.

Hunter turned to Cynder, pausing for a moment, choosing his words carefully so Cynder wouldn't think Hunter was against her.

"Cynder knows him," replied Hunter, "she was once a slave to him. His puppet."

"You don't mean… the Dark Master do you!?" exclaimed Cynder.

"Indeed," confirmed Hunter, "Malefor."

"Then we have no time to waste then," stated Spyro, quite obviously determined to succeed, "Let's get moving."

With that, Hunter, Spyro, Cynder and Sparx began travelling north towards the cheetah village whence Hunter had come from. That was their first and foremost destination.

* * *

The ape scout was making his way back to his party's camp in the dark of the night. Among the trees, both tall and small, was light from fires and torches. The ape could hear the chattering and laughing of his comrades, and before long he could see them. Groups of apes of varying rank were scattered about the camp, huddled around fires, keeping themselves as warm as they could. The ape scout saw the captain's tent standing grand and important, and he made his way inside. The inside of the tent was smaller than its outside appearance by about five percent. The ground was covered with an ornamental rug, colours ranging from burgundy to olive to brown. At the end of the tent was a large desk with the captain behind it, writing documents. The desk was adorned with carvings, nothing cute and pretty, but of a vicious fight between apes and cheetahs; a great battle that happened decades before. On top of the table were several candlesticks, half melted and wax running all down the sides in large clumps. The light was dim, but there was enough for the scout and more importantly, the captain to see. The scout gave a small cough and stood at attention. The captain looked up, scowling at the scout for interruption.

"Yes," grunted the captain, "What is it?"

"Captain," replied the scout, "I have returned from my search with news. I've found a new creature, nothing I've seen before."

"What did it look like," demanded the captain, "How far away is it?"

"It stands on two legs," whimpered the scout, "taller than I, but smaller than the sergeants. It was also wearing a green top, dark blue trousers and a brown belt with three pouches at the front; contents unknown."

"And how far?"

"Can't be more than seven kilometres; it was heading in the direction of the city, but from its size and stature, it couldn't have walked very far ever since I saw it south of the camp hours ago."

"Did this creature…" began the captain, "Did it… look anything like apes might?"

"Yes captain," confirmed the scout, "Nothing like cheetahs or moles, but more like apes in stature."

The captain thought to himself for a moment; he didn't know what the creature his scout had described was. But he decided that it may be worth capturing and interrogating, maybe even present it to the Dark Master as tribute. Ever since King Gaul passed, the Dark Master didn't like apes, so it could be good for amendments.

"We'll start searching for at dawn, sharpish," ordered the captain, "I want to see what this creature knows and whether he would be a good tribute for the Dark Master."

"As you wish, sir," acknowledged the scout, pulling his feet together and saluting.

The scout then left the tent to relay his orders to his sergeants and go back to his tent.

* * *

William was tired from the walking and climbing he had done to cover the ground he had. The sun was down and the crickets chirped in the ground; everything was dark and gloomy. He saw an open space among the trees and bushes, and decided to settle down for the night.

"I haven't gone more than ten kilometres this afternoon," he thought out loud, "not with all the climbing to make sure I was still going the right way. I'm glad I found that apple tree though."

William took off his belt and placed it in the middle of the clearing. He considered sleeping in a tree, but he rather he didn't fall off a branch with a nasty surprise. Fire was going to be necessary since the night air had chilled drastically, making William shiver. He gathered some sticks that were lying on the ground, a few twigs as kindling and placed them near where he put his belt. Laying out the sticks and placing the kindling on top, William took out the pieces of flint in one of his pouches and knelt down to light a fire.

"Better to save the matches."

He stuck the flint together, creating small sparks, but they were too small and too few. He struck again, this time harder and faster; more sparks flew out, catching the kindling and creating some smoke. He struck once more, closer this time and the kindling managed to set alight.

With a fire started and fuelled well, William checked his watch to see how late it was: 9:00.

"_Better get an early start_," he thought, "_Or at least try. Knowing me, I'll sleep 'til 10:00_."

William lay down near the fire and used his belt as a pillow, the empty pouch against his head for added comfort. It didn't take long until he drifted off to sleep, his mind clearing and his heart at peace, waiting for dreams to take their place.

* * *

It was late. Every one of the guardians knew this, but they could never find peace enough to sleep. The guardian of fire, he was the most restless, for he cared the most for his missing friends. Three years had passed since the young Spyro and Sparx had left the company of the four guardians to find Cynder. They had all heard of the death of the Ape King Gaul, and how the Well of Souls had collapsed, down to the catacombs below. None of them wanted to admit the death of Spyro, Cynder and Sparx, and none of them wanted to do anything until they returned. They had sent search party after search party, looking for the two young dragons and the young dragonfly; they themselves looked for them in the first year. But nothing had ever turned up, nothing but a pile of rubble… and a gaping hole in their hearts. Until any news of their being alive… or dead, the guardians or fire, ice, earth and electricity waited, waited until some trace of them was found.

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**A/N: That last bit was a bit depressing to write, I don't know how you guys felt as you read it. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Review if you would like to. Until next time!**


	4. Chapter 3 - Attack

**A/N: Back with the next chapter of the story. Leave a review if you wish. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own nor have I ever owned the Legend of Spyro series. I only own my OC, William Alexander.**

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Chapter 3 – Attack

The sun rose above the horizon, gleaming its bright, yellow light for all to see. The sky turned an orange, pink and bluish-grey as light took over from darkness. Within the forest, in a small clearing, was the still sleeping William; his belt as a pillow and his fire turned to ash. Waking up at dawn was not his favourite thing, but through his own body clock, he roused himself awake.

"Uh…" he moaned, "what time is it?"

His rhetorical question was soon answered as he looked up to see the sky. Realising it was dawn, William pulled out his watch to see the precise time; 5:42. Pleased with the earliness he had awoken, he proceeded to wind up the watch 'til it wouldn't budge any further. The amount of time before he must re-wind it ran through his head as he did so.

"_In thirty-six hours from now_," he thought to himself.

Standing up and stretching, William peered at his now extinguished fire, looking at the remains of ash and charcoal. There was no sign of any remaining embers that could potentially relight. Satisfied with this, William then spread the ash and charcoal so it was flatter. He was unsure why he made it flatter, he thought maybe it had something to do with its rate of decay. Shrugging it off, William knelt down to pick up his belt and secured it around his waist. He pulled out his bronze compass, checking where North was. Facing the right direction, William resumed his trek towards the grand city.

"_I hope food won't be an issue for a while_," he mused, "_If I can't find any fruits or vegetables, I may need to hunt, much to my dismay. It could be messy_."

The forest was no more awake than William himself; birds were few and chirped not often, and there weren't any animals larger than a hare to be seen. It mattered little to him, he was himself and he had his own affairs to attend to.

* * *

The camp was busy, apes rushing around to gather their weapons and armour, and to douse their fires. Since first light, the captain was writing. After he ordered his lieutenants to get the whole camp moving, he sat at his desk and began to write a report about the unknown creature and his plan of actions.

"_Day seventeen, month one and year three since the death of King Gaul," he wrote, "Yesterday, one of my scouts reported he had seen an unknown creature, ape-like in some sense. Today, my troops and I are going to search for this creature and capture it. I have a good feeling that this creature would make a good tribute to the Dark Master. Ape-like creatures seem to possess talent among the Dark Master's ranks, so why should this creature be any different. For now, my troops and I depart in search. Getting too close to the city, or any dragon-life would be too compromising for the secrecy of ape-kind and our continuous involvement_."

The captain put his quill down and re-read the report. Satisfied, he put it among other important papers inside a locked drawer in his special desk. The sun was still rising, more light was available, but more time had been lost. The captain stood up from his chair and began to arm himself. His great sword in its sheath upon his back, his armour, dark purple metal plates covering his arms, legs, shoulders and chest put on; it was time to leave the camp until the unknown creature was found.

* * *

Hours had passed, not many, but enough for hunger to settle in. William was now weak and tired, desperate to find any source of food. The forest around him was full of life, creatures great and small were out and about, but amongst all the trees and bushes was not one single trace of edible vegetation.

"Uhh," groaned William, "I think I should have taken some apples for later, when I found that tree."

William was far from starving to death, he still had enough energy to keep him going until the end of the day. After that… it was hard to say; unconsciousness maybe? But William wasn't thinking about this, rather he was thinking about whether he would have to hunt for food. Water was the next thing; dehydration was also slowly drawing near and water was more important. William decided to climb a tree again to see if there were any lakes, streams or rivers around. Above the great bed of green leaves was the entire world around, still as beautiful as it was yesterday. The advantage of height allowed William to see that there was an edge to the forest not too far ahead of him. It had a stream along it and many sorts of trees, plants and flowers. It was quite similar to the one he had seen the previous day, except for the lack of ruins.

"Perfect, a stream for water and plenty of plant-life. I'm bound to find at least some food there."

Climbing down as fast as his legs would let him, and jumping down earlier than he should have, William reached the ground, and began to jog towards the clearing he had seen. After a minute, the edge of the forest was in sight. William dawdled on the borders for a moment to look about and see what was there. Spotting a tall tree not too far away, an apple tree no less, he sprinted along the light-green grass, taking some aspect of care to not tread on many of the larger flowers. At the base of the tree were many apples at the stages of over-ripeness and some were in the stages of decay. Taking note not to step on the brown, decaying apples, William examined the branches above for some ripened ones. Spotting several, William made his way up the fairly thin trunk to reach the branches above. Taking four large, red apples, he jumped down and began to feast on them.

An hour had passed before William stood up and placed the remaining apple in the pouch that had the most amount of space available. Thirst setting in, he walked over to the stream at the centre of the field to take a drink. Other animals were drinking from the stream, but that didn't bother William; his survival was the more important than being picky. A rustle in the bushes ahead of him made him look up suddenly. The rustle was violent and sharp; he was surely not alone. The line of forest further beyond was empty… uncomfortably empty. Where were the animals, the birds?

"Something's not right," he said softly.

Anticipating a predator, William looked for some protection and picked up a long and relatively straight stick. It was about the length of a common longsword, but was still quite manoeuvrable. Stick in hand, he jogged over to a more open and clear space to reduce chance of being cornered, but a higher chance of being caught off-guard. From the bush, emerged a bipedal creature, wearing leather armour; it appeared to be some sort of ape. William prepared himself for it to attack, but instead, it ran to the dead-silent tree-line.

"An ape in armour? This doesn't look good. I need a better vantage point."

Making a bee-line for the tall apple tree, William then proceeded to climb it to the highest limb. What he saw was terrifying.

"What the–?"

Many apes came pouring out of the trees, weapons drawn, and heading towards the spot where William was before. Once all the apes were visible, he was able to get a better look at what he was in for. There were three sizes of apes all up; the smaller ones numbered thirty, the medium ones numbered ten and the large ones numbered four. Among the large apes was a well decorated one, its armour was dark purple covering his legs, arms, shoulders and chest and its sword was huge. The blade was a silver-grey colour, it looked like it was a meter and a half long and a quarter of a meter wide. The crossbar had a cutlass-like handguard that covered the ape's fingers almost completely. William could only guess this was the captain, and the other large apes were the lieutenants.

"_Oh god_," he thought in fear, "_so many and so deadly. I wish that I could survive a sword fight_."

"_**But you can**_," another voice in his head said, "_**Remember that you have great potential**_."

At that point the apes began to break up in different directions. The captain was one to leave too, leaving five small apes, three medium ones and one large one to scout the immediate area. Once the other apes were out of sight, William gulped and descended the tree, cautiously as to not let the apes be aware of his presence… yet. William hid behind the trunk of the tree, looking at the apes ahead; they were separated slightly, one or two in a group, and they were no less than eight meters apart.

"Perfect," smirked William, "Now to find the ape furthest away from the others."

The ape William sought just so happened to be the large ape, who was coincidentally also the closest. Taking a deep breath, he wielded the stick in his right hand and ran to the ape as swiftly and silently as possible. None of the other apes heard or saw him approach, so the element of surprise was on his side. The ape was about a meter taller than William and of a muscular build; killing this ape would not be easy. Spotting a dagger on the back right of the ape, William carefully lifted it by its hilt and gripped it in his hand, dropping the stick as he did so. Wasting no time at all, he thrust the dagger into the apes back causing it to yell in pain and drop to one knee. William then grabbed the ape's head, jerking it back and thrust the dagger into its neck. The other apes had heard the cry of their superior and rushed over to him, weapons drawn and high in the air.

"Ok then," said William, determined, "if this is how it's going to be."

Pulling the dagger out of the dead ape, William gritted his teeth and stood up, waiting for an ape to get closer. A small ape charged at him and slashed downwards at him. William dodged to the right and slashed at the ape's throat, killing it instantly. Two more apes attacked him stabbing and slicing all they could. William parried one of the ape's horizontal slashes and plunged his dagger into its chest. The other ape was met with an onslaught of attacks resulting in it being stabbed twice in the throat. Three apes now attacked him and were dispatched with relative ease. The final ape was an archer; he notched an arrow and drew his bow. William saw this and ducked as the arrow was fired, but the archer was quick to notch another arrow and fired again. William was lucky enough to dodge this arrow too, but only just did it miss. Wanting to end the fight, William then threw his dagger at the archer who had fired another arrow before the dagger hit and killed him.

The arrow that the archer fired before his demise found its way to William's right shoulder, knocking him backwards and making him fall over. The pain flowed through his shoulder as he struggled to pull the arrow out again. Giving up, William snapped the arrow shaft in half and lay his head down, cringing in pain. His vision blackened on the edges and his senses began to shut off. But before he lost consciousness, three blurred figures of unfamiliar shape loomed above him and tugged at the arrow, successfully pulling it out. But immediately after, William had become completely unconscious.

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**A/N: William's first battle! How exciting… though not so good for him *nervous laugh*. Anyway hoped you enjoyed the chapter. Until next time!**


	5. Chapter 4 - Unknown Creature

**A/N: The first chapter for 2015. Horary! I had a bit of a break from writing, which I guess is clear, but here I am again. I don't usually do this, but I will anyway; this chapter was half intended as a bit of an explanation to a review from **_**Mr Beaver Buttington**_**. In short, I realised how careful I ought to be when writing and whatnot, but anyway. Leave a review if you wish to. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any part in the Legend of Spyro series. I only own my OC I have created, William Alexander.**

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Chapter 4 – Unknown Creature

Hours had passed, many hours since the finding of the unknown creature, blood over its clothes and an arrow wound in its shoulder. Hunter had gone off shortly after to gather firewood for camp; the creature was in no condition for travel, so rest for the whole party was the best option.

"Spyro, you're a hundred percent sure it's not dead," asked Sparx, arms folded.

Spyro frowned at Sparx before replying, "Sure I'm sure, vital signs are there at least. It's just fainted."

"These things take time Sparx," explained Cynder, "It's not all over in an instant."

Sparx crossed his arms even further and frowned, dipping his head a little, as if he were a child having a tantrum. At that, the creature stirred a bit, small groans escaping its mouth as it turned to the left a bit. Flickering between open and closed, its eyes began to open, until they were three quarters of the way open. The creature couldn't focus on its surroundings very well until its eyes adjusted to the light and it could see more clearly. It began to notice the sound of a crackling fire, as well as someone speaking softly. The voice stopped abruptly and only the fire could be heard. The creature turned its head to face where the words had come from to see a black and red-violet dragon… or dragoness.

"_What the hell_," it thought, "_Am I… dreaming_?"

At this, a sharp pain flowed through its shoulder as it tried to sit up. It groaned and clenched its shoulder as it continued to raise itself to a sitting position. Bringing its breathing pattern to a steady pace, whilst briefly looking around itself to gather the surroundings, the creature then focused on Spyro and Sparx. It was noted that Spyro was male, by the shape of his build and that his most obvious detail was his colour. Spyro was primarily purple, a shade of violet, and his underbelly was close to gold. Upon his head were two medium sized horns, bent back a little; they were the same colour as his underbelly. Spyro's wings were about the size of three quarters of his body, and they were orange primarily, but his membranes were also like his underbelly in colour. The tip of his tail was feather-like in appearance, also taking on the colour of his underbelly.

Sparx's gender was unknown, since he was much smaller in size and had fewer notable features. He was a similar colour to Spyro, but he gave off a small glow. His wings were moving too fast for them to be seen very well, but they looked mostly transparent otherwise. Lastly, the creature turned to face Cynder, taking in her details. She was female, which was determined by her figure. She was primarily onyx, with her underbelly a red-violet colour. She adorned four, straight, silver horns, slightly shorter than Spyro's, but just as effective. Cynder's wings were about the same size as Spyro's, but were mainly red-violet, like her underbelly and her membranes were the onyx black she was primarily coloured. The tip of her tail looked like it was a spearhead, but with a portion missing near the base on her right; it was the same silver as her horns.

After taking in all the details of the three, the creature gulped slightly, and then spoke.

"Hello there," it said, slightly casually, but trying to be friendly.

"It's good you're awake," answered Spyro, "you've been out for hours."

"Uhh," sounded the creature as it reached into its pocket and withdrew its watch. The time read 6:34. It most certainly had been hours. Putting the watch back in its pocket the creature resumed, "Indeed I have. What exactly happened?"

"Well," began Sparx, "we were wondering out in the field and saw fighting nearby. As we got closer, we saw that you were fighting apes and then got shot in the shoulder. Hunter pulled out the arrow, yada-yada-yada, and now you're here."

"Ah. Right then. Who- who is Hunter?"

"He's a cheetah; and he's gone to gather some firewood, he'll be back shortly," replied Cynder.

"Okay. Who are you three," asked the Creature.

"We are Spyro, Cynder and Sparx," replied Spyro, "Two dragons and a dragonfly."

The creature simply nodded and began to try and remember the recent events itself. It only just occurred to it that it had killed… murdered several apes, regardless of their having weapons drawn first. Shocked, the creature went wide-eyed upon realising.

"What is it," asked Cynder.

"I- I- I…" it stuttered, "I killed. I had killed. Without any regard for who they were or what they wanted, I just went out… and killed them."

"They were apes, so you know," explained Spyro, "They were army to the Ape king, Gaul and who he served; but now Gaul is dead. They are not noble, they would kill anyone, anything they pleased."

"Even when you put it that way, I still feel guilty," responded the creature.

"Before we continue with this talk of guilt and murder," cut in Sparx, changing topic, "what exactly are you?"

"I… I am William Alexander, I am male," he began, "I am a human being, a homo sapiens, I am of mankind. I am not of this world, nor are the rest of my species; we do not know this world even exists."

"You're not from this world," queried Spyro, quite confused, "then, how did you get here?"

William thought to himself for a moment: was it the right time to talk about the Creator yet? Probably not. William then stood up, brushing himself off and grasping his wounded shoulder with his left hand.

"I don't think it is the best idea to say everything yet, but I can still tell you that I was transported out of my world by unknown means and woke up here yesterday morning."

"Well, I suppose you could tell us everything another time," stated Cynder, understanding yet disappointed.

William nodded, before remembering the topic of the earlier exchange. He decided to explain in detail, why he felt guilty for killing those apes, but why he did it anyway.

"About those apes," he started, glancing at the three, making sure attention was towards him, "approximately five minutes before the fighting, I saw a small, lightly armoured ape run out of some bushes, close to where I had stopped for a drink, to the far tree-line. Because he was armoured and running **away** from me, I thought there was going to be some kind of trouble. So I climbed a nearby tree to the peek to see anything else in more safety. Shortly after, a platoon came out of the tree-line, weapons drawn. I thought that they most certainly wanted to do harm when they stopped at the **exact** place I had stood before. When they had split up, I thought that I should kill the remaining apes, because they were probably going to kill me on sight anyway. I feel guilty about it because, I didn't know their full intentions; they could have been doing anything else for all I knew."

Spyro and Cynder nodded when William had finished, Sparx was nearly sleeping. In William's mind, he had made perfect sense of the situation, but his problem was that he had jumped to conclusions. He could have done something better to get away, but he instead killed those who could have been doing something completely different to what he was thinking.

"All I can say is that your logic is perfectly sound," said Spyro, trying to make an attempt at comfort, "even though you didn't know their full intentions, you got enough to make your decision. It's a good thing that you did kill them, because otherwise, they'd continue to kill innocent people without **any** regard at all."

"I didn't know that though. It's going to still eat away at my mind," replied William, "Where are the bodies?"

"Over there," directed Cynder, pointing with a claw, "After we moved you over here, we lined up the bodies."

"I should pay my respects then."

William walked to where Cynder had pointed, with Spyro and Cynder following behind. Sparx on the other hand was sleeping from sheer boredom. The bodies were side-by-side, in random order of height, and William approached from the right, where the first ape was the archer who shot him. William stood next to the deceased ape, looking down at him, staring into his still open eyes. He knelt down and closed them, and moved to the next ape to do the same, until the eyes of all the apes were shut. Standing in front of them all, with Spyro and Cynder next to him, he then spoke to rest his mind.

"Though life you have taken; though life have been taken; be it that your deeds not be forgotten and that your evils may be forgiven. May you, may you all rest… in peace."

Feeling as if his mind may finally be clear, William dipped his head and turned to head back to the camp. Cynder looked at him briefly, before returning her gaze to the bodies of the apes, running over the things that William had said in her head. It was confusing to say the least, as never in her life had she heard someone who had killed another say anything like that to their dead corpse. The concept seemed so foreign to her, however much good of an action it was. She shook her head lightly, and shrugged it off to return to camp too. Spyro also was bewildered by it; he had killed many evil creatures before and never once had he thought to pay respects to them. But even then, the horrible things they had done, it made sense to him that it had never crossed his mind. He dipped his head, like William had done, and went back to the now lit camp.

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The camp was well and truly alive, though they numbered only four, five including Sparx, it was teeming with conversation and laughter, and not to mention, good food.

"I must say, it is a pleasure to meet such a skilled archer as yourself Hunter," said William, "perhaps you could teach me some time?"

"Perhaps when we get to the city, it has better training grounds than the open forest," replied Hunter, "It's not too far, so you won't need to wait too long."

"So that **was** a city," exclaimed William in sudden realisation, "I hoped it was when I saw something big in the distance yesterday."

"Indeed," went on Hunter, taking a bite out of some cooked venison, "It's a grand city, where dragons, cheetahs and moles all live in harmony."

"Hey William, would you tell us a bit about yourself," asked Cynder.

"Sure… where should I begin?"

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**A/N: So **_**Mr Beaver Buttington**_**, I hope this gave some aspect of explanation. Anyway on another note, with the start of the school year, I'm going to have less and less time to write chapters, but do not worry, because I ****am not**** going to give up on this story. A fair amount of the time, I run over what might happen in the chapter in my head anyways, but the hard part will be finding time to write. Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, leave a review if you wish. Until next time!**


	6. Chapter 5 - Past Life

**A/N: I'm back with the next chapter! This one took a while to think about where it was heading so… sorry for the wait. I hope the wait was well worth it, or something along those lines. Leave a review if you so wish to. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Legend of Spyro series. I only own my OC, William Alexander.**

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Chapter 5 – Past Life

William took a moment before deciding that he should begin talking about his past, however uneventful and insignificant it was; there was a lot he could teach them about not only himself, but the entire human race.

"I guess I ought to start with where I'm from," he began, scanning his audience of four for attention, "With that, I'll start with the human race. We humans have had a very long history, some would say over six-thousand years, and that's understandable, given our stage in technology and knowledge and understanding of so many things. Though something we can't seem to know definitively, is where we originated from."

"Wait," interrupted Cynder, an obvious query begging to be told, "How could your species not know about your origins? Wouldn't there be stories about it?"

"It's not that simple; as I said before, we have about 'six-thousand years' of history," responded William, "Stories would probably have been lost within that time, or stopped being told. There are some people who are trying to find out about past human civilisations, by digging up the Earth to find anything ancient buried. These ancient artefacts give insights on past human life over the centuries."

Cynder just furrowed her brow, scratching her head as she did so. William sighed a little, thinking how he could try to teach them about something as complicated as this, with little confusion between them. It just wasn't possible!

"Look, I can't explain everything," clarified William, "If I even tried, first of all, it would be undoubtedly confusing for all of you, and second of all, to explain everything that humans have done in six-thousand years would be folly! It would take generations, hundreds, thousands of years to explain it all. Not only that, but I don't know everything."

The looks among each of them was of great disappointment and William could understand it: if a dragon was unable to explain everything about their race, then he would be disappointed too. But he could explain enough to give a small understanding of the human race… at least he hoped it would be enough. William paused his speech to look at each of the company individually, noting their expressions: confused and eager to know more. He sighed lightly again, before making another attempt at explaining human history.

"For now… I'll explain what I can, but believe me when I say that there is too much to explain. Humans have existed for about six-thousand years, as I said before, and those six-thousand years are split into two sections of time. There are two different labels for these sections: BC and AD are the labels that I, and many other, humans use. BC stands for 'Before Christ' and is from perhaps the year four-thousand to 'zero'. And AD stands for 'Anno Domini', and this is from the year 'zero' to the present day. Most people who believe that all animals evolved from a common ancestor don't tend to use these labels, but I'll explain that another time. Most of the people who **do** use these labels believe that the Universe was created by one divine being, and I am one of those people."

"You say that people who don't use the labels 'BC' and 'AD' believe animals evolved from a common ancestor; which animal's that," asked Hunter.

"I can't really say," replied William, "a common thought is that humans have evolved from apes."

"APES!" was the cry from around the campfire, "You're an APE!"

"Now hold on just a moment," said William defensively, "I said that I am not one of the people who believe that… well not directly, but either way I don't. To be clear, it's only a theory, even though it has a lot of supporting evidence."

"So does that mean you **are** an ape?" asked Spyro.

"I don't and won't believe so," replied William, adamant about his decision, "Don't forget that I killed several apes only a few hours ago; what reason would I have to kill them if they were my kin? That would be treachery by all standards."

The camp was completely silent, no-one could come up with a good answer: Spyro, Cynder, Hunter, nor Sparx. William had raised a good point: why would he kill apes if he was an ape too? It would definitely be treachery; apes are too loyal to themselves to do such a thing. William was also curious about why the apes are considered horrible, and what Cynder, Hunter, Sparx and Spyro have against them.

"_I feel like I should know, or have known_," thought William, "_**Do**__ I know, or is it only my imagination_?"

"Hey, will you tell me why you hate the apes," asked William, "What have they actually done that makes you all despise them?"

"It's all from a story," replied Cynder, slightly sad in tone, "It only happened just fifteen years ago, in a temple far west or so from here. In this temple were two hundred dragon eggs that were being looked after by the four guardians until the hatching season. One night however, the temple was attacked by hordes of apes, led by their king, Gaul. Almost every single egg was smashed to pieces, all except two."

"What happened to those two eggs then," asked William, "Taken away?"

Cynder nodded, "One egg, which was Spyro's egg, was taken away by the guardian of fire during the conflict between the apes and the other three guardians."

"He took my egg to the middle of the swamp, not far from the temple," added Spyro, "and rested it on a thick bed of reeds. He then set the bed on a stream, acting as a raft for my egg to float on. It floated downstream, where Sparx's parents found it. They took it and cared for me when I hatched, and as I grew up alongside Sparx."

"The other egg was my egg," continued Cynder, "but it was taken by Gaul. I was hatched and raised as a servant to the Dark Master, otherwise known as Malefor. Corrupted by his evil will and power, I became a monster."

Cynder's voice broke up bit by bit as she went on, but it didn't last very long. She began to tremble and tear up as dreadful memories flocked her mind. The innocent lives that should have been spared… but were not, it was all a nightmare to her. Spyro draped a wing over her to comfort her in her moment of despair, after which she regained some composure. William couldn't begin to imagine what she must have gone through, the horrors… the pain. His emotion flickered, his previously tranquil expression, became one of great sympathy, and then extraordinary rage. How could such a thing happen?! It was incomprehensible, the evil that the Dark Master, not to mention the apes, could do to innocent living things! William's blood boiled: these questions furthering his own despise of the apes and Malefor. Hunter saw his change of expression and began to feel somewhat concerned about him.

"Hey, William," he called, "are you feeling okay?"

William punched the ground hard, ignoring his shoulder's painful protest, and stood up, pacing back and forth with his hands clenched at his sides. Sparx stared at him, alarmed by the sudden outburst, with his mouth slightly agape. This was the general looked of the others around the glowing campfire; such sudden change of emotion had not been seen by any of them. William didn't take any time to look at them, he was too busy thinking about why there was such evil in their world. Granted, the human world had extreme evil throughout the course of history, and they made William angry too, but he didn't focus on human history.

"A – Are you okay William, you seem quite angry."

"I'm not angry," was his response, uneasily calm, "I'm absolutely livid!"

His roar of anger astonished everyone: eyes went wide, sudden breaths were taken and hearts jumped. They were speechless, not a single word was uttered, not even by Hunter, who out of them all, would seem to have the most courage.

"The amount of evil, that you've told me the apes and Malefor have done," he began, softer, but furious all the same, "enrages me extremely. Right now, I wish nothing, but the destruction of **all** of them. They deserve all the pain they get."

"But you felt guilt for killing those apes before," countered Spyro, "Have you changed your mind about all that?"

"For now, while I'm this angry. But I know I'll feel bad about it later," explained William, "As long as I'm as angry as I am, I won't consider them at all: whether or not they have a family, or whether or not they've done wrong anyone at all. As long as I'm as angry as this, I won't feel the same amount of regret that I would if I wasn't. Don't get me wrong, it's still good to be respectful of those you've killed, it'll put your mind at rest."

"Do you often get as angry as you are," asked Hunter.

"Not really," came the response, "If someone dear to me was killed, I'd be furious: I'd probably kill the murderer without hesitation. If someone did something horrible, to another, I'd still be angry, but it depends on what it was. It's all still uncertain to me."

"Well we don't blame you," said Cynder, "I'm sure we'd all do the same thing; all except Sparx."

Sparx flew into Cynder's face as she finished, holding his tiny fists in an attack position and punching the air in front of him and Cynder.

"What do you mean by that?! Huh?!"

"What I mean Sparx is…"

Cynder snapped her teeth at Sparx, to which he quickly evaded and flew away, ducking behind his brother's horns for shelter. Everyone chuckled at the sight, even William who thought it was a humorous sight.

"… You're an absolute coward."

After the humorous event took place, William calmed down again, returning to his peaceful emotion.

"So I've heard a bit of your story," started William, directed at Spyro mostly, but Cynder too, "could you tell the rest of it?"

"I assume you mean mine," asked Spyro, lifting a brow. Sparx gave out a loud cough in the typical way for attention. Spyro rolled his eyes and sighed to himself, "…and Sparx's."

"Yes, from what I gather Cynder's story isn't very pleasant," responded William glancing at Cynder, "and I think there has to be some point where your paths cross?"

"Yes you have a point there," agreed Spyro, "Cynder's story actually crosses with mine not very long ago, a little over three years ago. Her story is still important, so I'll say what **is** important, and say nothing else about it."

Spyro wanted to be as delicate as possible about Cynder's past, due to her sensitivity about it. No one held her against her past, including William, but the memories still haunt her.

Spyro began recounting his first adventure with Sparx in the effort to stop the Dark Master from returning. Spyro wanted to leave out that Cynder was the one who was trying to achieve this, and what she did to try and do so. But every time Spyro tried to leave it out, Cynder added it back in to keep it accurate. This didn't change William's opinion of Cynder, because he'd already been told that she was corrupted at that time. Spyro revealed that all dragons can utilise a magical energy to control one particular element, and a purple dragon, could control 'all four', which were fire, ice, earth and electricity. A purple dragon could also combine the four elements to create a powerful compound element called 'convexity'.

"I thought that electricity and ice aren't technically 'elements'," commented William, "From what I know, the four elements are fire, water, earth and air."

"Perhaps… but then again, perhaps not," was all that Spyro could say.

"What element do you control Cynder," queried William.

"Actually, because of my previous corruption, I can control more than one element" explained Cynder, "Those elements are poison, wind, fear and shadow."

"Sounds pretty damn effective," said William, "I wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of those attacks."

Both he and Cynder smirked at the small joke, before Spyro continued telling the story. He went on telling about each of the four guardians of fire, ice, earth and electricity and their rolls in the plan to bring back the Dark Master. He spent a bit more time talking about the fire guardian, Ignitus, and how he taught him how to fly and fight earlier in his journey. Spyro saw Ignitus as a dragon that is usually calm, but can be stern, even angry at times. It then became apparent to William that Ignitus was well respected by Spyro. The guardians of ice, earth and electricity were still talked about, but a bit less in amount. Cyril is the ice guardian and he's not cold, like his elemental power might suggest him to be, but Spyro considers him to be very prideful of his heritage, and sometimes plain arrogant. The earth guardian is called Terrador, and he's the strongest out of all the guardians, in terms of brute strength, but he isn't dim-witted, like what the typical brute is. Terrador is in fact wise about his decisions, fighting especially, and knows when retreat should or shouldn't be an option. The last guardian is called Volteer, and he is quick, as his element may infer, but is, surprisingly, quick at almost only speech. Volteer can be fast with his words when he is excited about something, sometimes to the point of misunderstanding or interpretation, and he has a huge vocabulary, larger than necessary. Sometimes when explaining an exciting phenomenon, he'll say the same thing over and over, but using synonyms of the words he originally used.

"Volteer sound like the kind of dragon who would have a lot of knowledge, what with all those words he knows," rationalised William, "I might like to talk to him about… pretty much anything. The things I could say to him."

"No, you might not want to do that," advised Sparx, "He has a tendency to not shut up."

"I'm sure it can't be all bad," retorted William.

"Yeah, no it is."

William rolled his eyes and sighed, quite heavily; it became quite obvious that Sparx is not fond of talking to, or rather listening to Volteer. That didn't matter, because William was eager to learn about dragons and their history, and maybe even teach Volteer about humans and their history. William looked over at Hunter, who was gazing into the fire, thinking about nothing in particular, but anything that came to his mind.

"You've been rather quiet Hunter," said William, "Do you want to say anything?"

"Yes actually," responded Hunter, "I say that we should probably go to sleep now; it's getting late, and I want us to be well rested and moving by mid-morning. Alright?"

Everyone nodded, and began to reposition themselves into a sleeping position. A couple yawns escaped the maws of Spyro and Cynder, causing a chain reaction of yawns amongst Sparx, Hunter and William. It wasn't long before the fire dimmed down and the company drifted off to sleep, dreams taking a hold for the rest of the night, until morning.

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**A/N: So sorry once again for the long wait for this chapter to get out. It actually took a lot longer to figure out what I wanted to happen in the chapter so yeah… Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter, leave a review if you wish to. Until next time!**


	7. Chapter 6 - A Hunting Lesson

**A/N: The next chapter of the story is now here! It took forever, I know and what can I say but 'sorry'; I never got around to doing this for a long time, 'cause other things got in the way. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and once again sorry for the wait. Leave a review if you'd like to. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not under any circumstance own any part of the Legend of Spyro series; all that I own is my OC, William Alexander.**

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Chapter 6 – A Hunting Lesson

Hunter woke early to the chill of the morning air, light slowly fighting back the darkness and taking back the day. He lay flat on his back with his eyes now open, his bow and quiver at arm's reach in-case of any signs of danger. He remained motionless all except for his ears, which twitched to the sound of birds, the rush of wind and the rustle of tree leaves. A minute passed before he was satisfied that his senses had re-attuned themselves, and he stood up, seizing his bow and quiver and strapping them to his back securely. He peered at the horizon through the tree-line and could see little trace of the Sun, indicating that it was the early stages of dawn.

"_Perhaps it'd be best if I went hunting while I wait for the others to wake up_," he mused, "_The question is, 'should I take William with me?'; it might be good to show him how to hunt with a bow_."

Hunter thought about this a little further, listing the pros and cons in his head and assessing what would have the most advantages. He was so focused in his thoughts, that he did not notice an average figure stirring behind him and standing up. It approached Hunter fairly silently, as much as the grass beneath its feet would allow, until it was only a few centimetres away from Hunter's shoulders. It grinned lightly before raising a finger and drawing it ever so near to Hunter's right shoulder; it then immediately retracted it, spreading out its hand instead and coming into sudden, but not violent, contact with Hunter's shoulder. Hunter jumped what seemed to be a meter high, letting out a yell as he did so.

"Aaaaaaaah," he cried, "Wh – oh… damn you William, why'd you that?!"

William couldn't help but burst out laughing, almost bringing him to tears from the immense sense of hilarity he was experiencing; he couldn't even speak properly! Hunter frowned, deeply unimpressed and not at all amused with the jump-scare he received.

"I could've shot you y'know! That's **nothing** to joke about!"

"Oh yeah sure you would've shot me," was the sarcastic retort, "you jumped so high, I think you gave some birds a heart attack; look there's one dropping right now."

"Oh yeah, ha-ha very funny; so funny I forgot how to laugh. Anyway, now that you're up, I'm about to go hunting, so would you like to go with me? I thought you might like to see how to hunt with a bow."

"Alright then, I think it'd be interesting; I've never learned how to hunt before, and I think it'd be useful to know how to."

Hunter nodded and indicated to William that he should follow him closely. William complied without word or hesitation, and the two of them left for the forest south-west of where Spyro and Cynder were still soundly sleeping, despite the loud cry of Hunter and the laughter of William earlier. They walked in the forest for what seemed to be a very long time, but in reality was only ten minutes before Hunter spotted a wild buck grazing at a berry bush; he gestured to William to remain low and silent.

"Just over there, do you see it," whispered Hunter, "It's a buck and full grown too. Silence and precision is crucial here, as the slightest noise will scare it off."

Hunter, in his crouched position, moved slowly and silently to a series of short bushes that gave him good vision on the buck and also adequate cover from being spotted by the buck. William, did as he did and moved to Hunter slower, but just as silent. Hunter peered through the bushes, drawing his bow and notching an arrow as he did, his eyes never leaving the buck.

"A rule of thumb when hunting with a bow," started Hunter, "always, always, go for the most vital and vulnerable spot."

William had no time to think this advice that Hunter gave over before Hunter loosed the arrow and a deep groan and thud was heard. Hunter smiled with pride over his kill and without pause, leapt over the bushes and rushed over to the now dead buck. William followed, running back around the bushes they'd hidden to where the dead buck lay in a shallow pool of its own blood. Hunter was already busying himself by snapping the shaft of his arrow shorter, so only short stub was visible, and beginning to reposition the corpse ready for it to be carried back to the camp. William examined the buck with what time he could; the arrow had landed its way clean into the throat of the buck which would have easily resulted in an instant kill, if not then it would've bled to death very quickly.

"Hey, do you mind giving be a hand with lifting this William," asked Hunter, who began to lift the front half of the buck and slinging it over his right shoulder.

"Uhh, sure," was the quick response.

William moved to the rear half of the back hand lifted it up, securing a comfortable grip to avoid any drops, and then slung it over his right shoulder. It was fairly heavy, certainly too much for someone like William to carry alone, but also heavy enough that someone like Hunter would struggle to haul it by himself. The two in tandem trudged their way back the way they came, looking like they were lumberjacks carrying a short tree trunk to be chopped up for wood. The walk back was quite hassle free, every minute they'd switch shoulders to avoid doing damage to the shoulder muscle.

"Just so you know, hunting usually takes a lot more time and patience," explained Hunter, "We just got really lucky today."

William nodded in understanding, and continued to remain silent until the silence was broken moments later.

"So William…"

"Call me Will, its more preferable," interjected William.

"Okay then Will," resumed Hunter, "Just a question of interest, considering that you don't like killing things, why'd you agree to come hunting with me?"

"It's not that I have a problem killing **all** things," explained Will, "some things I don't mind the idea of killing like insects, pests, and animals for food or similar. The problem is with killing sentient creatures, like people, or in the case of this world, cheetahs, dragons and apes; pretty much anything that thinks independently."

"Ooh, that's what's wrong," nodded Hunter, understanding Will's situation, "So, you don't mind the idea of me killing this buck, but you **do** mind the concept of killing things that can think freely."

"In essence yes, I'm a real mess about it all," confirmed Will, "I don't know where I stand, especially since yesterday. I'm going to need to think about this in great depth. One thing for sure is that I will protect my own existence and others whom I care about, whatever the cost may be."

Hunter nodded and left it at that, seeing no further reason to continue on a discussion that would ultimately lead nowhere useful.

* * *

The soldiers were statues, at full attention and not moving a muscle, nearly not even breathing. Of course, this was because of their intimidation of their commanding officer's low patience and short temper. Their captain was pacing back and forth in front of them, addressing the failure to find and capture the unknown creature that they were searching for.

"The fact that I sent **every** one of you out in different directions to find this wretched creature, and yet not one of you found any trace or track that was in any way, shape or form foreign to this land!"

The captain was red in the face, were there any way to tell that his face was red, as his baboon-like facial features prevented such colouration to be visible on his face. His bellows were back-stiffening, and the petrified soldiers that were in his command, even the lieutenants, were stock-stone-still.

"Not to mention," continued the aggravated captain, "that a squad of nine never returned from their search! If I recall, they weren't even searching a different area, but the same area that the scout directed to! What does this imply?! It implies that they were attacked… by whom you may ask. If there's one thing that I am for certain, is that based on the report that was given to me yesterday, it was in no way the creature who we are searching for. The creature who we are searching for has no chance of surviving a fight with nine trained soldiers of the late King Gaul."

The captain, then drew his sword suddenly and held it high in the air. Not a soul flinched at this sudden and violent action. The captain eyed his command, looking to see if they had understood his point; they appeared to have done so. The mood of the captain then changed, from scorn, to brutal; he was very unhappy and didn't care about any of the minor details that may be in plain sight, and indeed was.

"And so… as punishment for lack of effort, every third soldier in line will be whipped and their wounds salted, and the rest will have their rations halved for the next two weeks. I will **not** tolerate failure, and if it happens again… every second soldier in line will be severely beaten, and every eighth soldier in line will be executed by sword!"

That was the last that the infuriated captain had to say to his petrified troops. They were dismissed promptly after… all with the exception of the third soldiers in line who were escorted away outside of camp for their punishment.

* * *

There was a clamour in the large chamber, four voices were arguing, seemingly without end; the voices belonged to four old dragons: one red, one light blue, one yellow, and one green. What they were arguing about could not be distinguished, but the arguments were constantly flickering between the dragons. "Oh but this" they would say and "Yes but that" they would follow with, but each dragon would remain adamant about their individual argument.

"How could such a thing be possible," exclaimed the red dragon, "there's no way that they'd have pulled such a thing off."

"Don't be so stubborn Ignitus," countered the yellow dragon, "In every way, such an event could allow them to be safely escape the catastrophe. All it takes is strength, timing and opportunity, which by the way, they all have."

"Preposterous," rebutted the light blue dragon, "You don't seriously think that they'd have the strength and opportunities to do that Volteer?"

"I'm with Cyril on that one," agreed the green dragon, "Even for them it'd be impossible. And besides, if they escaped, why wouldn't have they come back by now, three years later?"

"Uhh…" stammered Volteer, "That's… a fair point Terrador, but can you think of anything more plausible?"

This carried on for several more minutes of point-making, theorising, disproving and downright shouting; all until a stout figure pushed open one of the large doors and cleared his throat, in turn interrupting the argument completely. The figure was of a mole who was dressed in a red uniform, not unlike a messenger, which was fitting as he was a messenger. He stepped forward with light feet and gave a light bow before he began relaying his message.

"Begging your pardons, guardians," he began, "but there are five newcomers at the city gates, two dragons, a cheetah, a dragonfly, and something that is unknown. The gate guards have them waiting for approval of entry. What shall I relay?"

"What does the unknown creature look like, dangerous?" asked Terrador.

"Not at all sir. In fact it is a little smaller than the cheetah, and does not possess any items that could be dangerous or used as a weapon. The creature itself appears to have little to no combat experience."

"What about the dragons, dragonfly and cheetah, what do they look like," asked Ignitus anxiously, a lingering hope of who it was at the forefront of his thoughts.

"The cheetah bears the symbol of the cheetah village to the south-east, the esteemed archers. He identified himself as Hunter."

"Oh good, Hunter's back from his mission," said Cyril, "I assume the dragons, dragonfly and creature are with him?"

"Uh, yes sir," replied the mole, "According to the guards, they seek an audience with you. The dragons, male and female they were, are quite eager: I believe the female was black, and the male was purple."

"Send the word that they shall be let in," ordered Ignitus, urgency in his voice, "Make haste!"

With that the mole gave a quick salute and turned back the way he came, running as fast as his small legs would let him. Ignitus turned to the other guardians, smiling immensely from the news the messenger had delivered.

"It seems… that after three years of searching and waiting… Spyro and Cynder have finally returned."

* * *

**A/N: And so now that Spyro, Cynder, Hunter, Sparx and Will have supposedly arrived at the city gates, we get close to where the interesting stuff happens. Ooooo, excitement! Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter, they aren't particularly long I know, and I need to work on extending it more. But either way, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, leave a review if you wish. Until next time!**


	8. Chapter 7 - A Creed Not of a Soldier

**A/N: Once again here with the next chapter of the story. This is where (hopefully) things begin to develop in the story. I'll be referring to William as Will from here on, unless dialogue calls for it to be otherwise. Leave a review if you wish to; I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not in all ways possible own anything from the Legend of Spyro series; I only own that which I created myself, this being my OC character, Will Alexander.**

* * *

Chapter 7 – A Creed Not of a Soldier

Since dawn had properly broken, Spyro and Cynder had managed to rouse themselves to the waken world, despite their subconscious wish not to. Sparx on the other hand was still fast asleep, and wouldn't wake if an explosive battle raged on. It wasn't long after Spyro and Cynder had risen and stretched that Will and Hunter returned with a recently deceased buck slung over their shoulders, and drips of blood falling between its forefeet. It was probably the first thing they noticed when they caught sight of them, and it was all they could focus on; stomachs growled at the very sight of it. But they remained still while Will and Hunter wondered over to where they sat and set the buck down next to the ashes of the campfire.

"You two been up for very long," inquired Will, "Did Hunter and I wake you?"

"Not at all, why? Did you make lots of noise or something," responded Cynder.

Hunter and Will glanced at each other, Will was smirking, but Hunter remained blank. He really didn't want to talk about what happened, nor wanted to have any prolonged recollection of it.

"You could say something like that happened," grinned Will, "Though nothing ridiculous, just hilarious. I won't bother going into the details, it's the kind of thing you need to have seen yourself for it to be funny."

"It wasn't funny," muttered Hunter to Will, with a frown on his face and his arms crossed. "Anyway, we brought breakfast if it wasn't obvious enough."

"Yeah, we can see that," replied Spyro, "and we'd really like to get into it too. A lack of food after three years of being frozen really does that to ya."

Hunter took that as his cue to unsheathe a large knife – a dagger really – and carve off portions of the buck for him and Will to eat, leaving the rest for Spyro and Cynder to share. It wouldn't be enough for a completely filling breakfast, but it would be sufficient for several hours. William quickly dashed off into the forest to retrieve some sticks and kindling, and returned shortly after with arms full. He set the sticks down on top of the remnants of the previous campfire and placed the kindling on top of that. He then pulled out the two pieces of flint from one of his pouches and proceeded to strike them to get a flame.

"Why are you making a fire," queried Cynder, "It's not night or anything, it doesn't serve any purpose right now."

"Not exactly, it's necessary to cook the meat," explained Will, "I can't eat meat raw, my stomach isn't meant to handle it, I'll get food poisoning from the bacteria. So by cooking it, the meat is safer for me to eat, and not to mention, it tastes better."

Cynder and Spyro started at him dumbly, they didn't get it: they ate food raw all the time and they were fine. Why Will said he couldn't they just weren't able to understand. Will carried on cooking anyway, ignoring the looks he got from the others, Sparx included who had woken to the heat of a small glowing fire right next to his sleeping place. They all ate in relative silence, indulging themselves in the various tastes and flavours they were getting from their food; they were all different flavours between them of course. Once all food had been devoured, bones excluded, it was high time to leave for the city once again. But before any progress had been made, Will peered curiously at the collars which bound themselves to Spyro and Cynder's necks; he hadn't a good idea why they wore matching collars.

"May I ask Spyro why it is that you and Cynder wear similar collars," asked William, pulling out his watch and winding it at the same time.

"It's not by choice," was the plain response.

"Then what is it by? Are they preventing you from doing something?"

"Yes, it prevents us from veering too far away from each other," enlightened Cynder, "They were put on us only days ago by – wait…"

Cynder trailed her words off before turning to Hunter, "How many days did you say we had before these collars were permanently locked?"

"Seven days, since binding. It's been two days, we're now onto the third," confirmed Hunter.

"Oh no," gasped Cynder, "we need to hurry or we're going to be chained forever; if only Malefor can remove them, then we must see the guardians as soon as possible."

"Hang on, don't panic just yet Cynder," comforted Spyro, "I'm sure there's a temporary solution to our dilemma… what if we were to give it some elemental energy; that might do something useful?"

"Are they magical collars, not technological," asked Will, "may I examine them first in case they are; I could be of help concerning technology?"

Spyro nodded and Will shuffled closer to get a better look at Spyro's collar. Will looked from every possible angle, in and out, examining every little part he could, looking for gears, springs, sprockets, or anything that would show it to be mechanical. The faint green, sparkling glow in the eyes of the snake was the most curious trait that the collars held; perhaps it was the source of binding power... Will gestured for Cynder to move further away from Spyro to see the collars reaching maximum extension. What he saw was a sudden jolt of an ominous and fluorescent green electric bolt forming between the eyes of the collars. Fittingly, this sparked an idea in Will's head; crazy but it just might work.

"I've got an idea that I'm sure will buy us some more time," said the excited Will, thoughts racing, "Look at the tether, how it looks like an electric bolt. If it uses an electric bolt to bind you, then it is likely to run on electricity that would drain over time: seven days in this instance. If it has an amount of time which it drains, then it must have its own storage of electricity inside of it for it uses; a battery if you will. All we need to do is recharge that battery so it can keep running!"

"Wha – How does that work?! It's a magic collar, not a mechanical one! Besides, how could you know it can be recharged?"

"Just give it a go," pressed Will, "Always worth a try. Spyro, use your electric element and aim it at Cynder's collar; don't hit her. Hopefully that will provide enough charge for it to run for another seven days."

Spyro looked at Cynder and Hunter, not sure of the effects of his future actions. But any doubt was replaced by the fact that he didn't want to be chained together for the rest of his days, no matter who it was with. Yellow sparks emanated from his maw, little ones, but it quickly grew to the size that could roughly be compared to Will's fist. Cynder gave him a sharp and bitter look, one that would say '_hit me and I'll kill you_'. Spyro hesitated for a moment upon seeing this and steadied himself as much as he could. A short burst of electricity launched out of Spyro's maw and flew its way through the air to be absorbed into Cynder's collar, where it suddenly dissipated into nothingness. Her collar however sparked madly sending a multitude of the absorbed current along the visible green tether into Spyro's collar which sparked with equal might.

"Ok it seems to be doing something," said Sparx, feeling a need to state the obvious.

The snakes on both collars began to animate as the excess of the current lost itself in the resonating sparks of the tether. Cynder was drawn closer to Spyro and vice versa not out of their own will: they were being drawn in by some greater force that no one present knew of. When they were almost touching, the snakes on the collars seemed to dance in tandem, almost like a little ritual signifying who knows what. It didn't last very long, ten seconds at most, and after those short few seconds, the snakes reformed into their previous static position. Everyone was dumbfounded, comprehending what was just witnessed would take much more time than what they had; it was by this that Hunter cleared his throat for attention.

"Shall we?"

* * *

The hour was late, about 5:20 by Will's pocket watch, which he had checked moments beforehand. Hunter had said minutes before that the city was very close and only a little further to go until they were at the gates.

"Believe me when I say 'we're close' that we are so," assured Hunter, "I am no fool and know my sense of direction. Look there's the city gates just up ahead, you can see the watch guards lighting the torches."

And Hunter was true to his words, Will, Spyro, Cynder and Sparx could all see little moving yellow dots in the distance producing even more yellow dots. Will pulled out his telescope from his pouch and with what light was still provided, he could make out guards of varying size and shape with varying armour. The smallest of the guards were hominoid creatures, no taller than half of Will's height, on top of the walls which stood tall over the city that sat below. The largest of the guards were dragons, most of them green, and they patrolled back and forth in front of the gate itself in armour thick enough to be impenetrable by ordinary means. As the company approached the gates, a cry was audible from the top of the wall, "Unidentified personnel sighted!" Such a cry made Will gulp in anxiety: he didn't know how they'd react to him, or whether they'd kill him of suspicion of being an enemy.

"_Oh I hope all goes well_," his thoughts panicked, "_If they got too suspicious of me… they might kill me! On the spot! Or throw me into prison! Or something worse…_"

"Halt! Identify yourselves," bellowed the voice of a very large dragon adorned in decorated armour.

"Hunter of Avalar returning from the guardian's mission."

The guard grunted gruffly and called over a messenger. He was a stout fellow, fatter than tall, dressed in a red uniform: jacket complete with buttons and epaulettes, black trousers down to his feet, shiny black shoes laced up tight, and a red cap brimmed with black and a little envelope pin just above the brim. He gave a sharp and quick salute, and waddled over to the larger dragon. The dragon leaned in and whispered his message, none of it audible to anyone apart from themselves which was exactly what it was meant to be. The dragon stood upright again, in the dragon sense mind you, and turned to face the company.

"I've sent word to the guardians, they'll verify your identity 'Hunter'," he spoke, "But who do you have with you? Two dragons, a dragonfly, and… whatever you are."

Will stepped forward slightly and gave a light bow of respect before he spoke, "I am new to these lands sir. My species call ourselves several things; the most accurate I guess is 'Homo-sapiens'."

"'Homo-sapiens'?!" he shot back, "Never heard of 'em. Never seen the likes of you."

"It is indeed true," said Hunter, "The dragons, Spyro and Cynder, and the dragonfly, Sparx, can vouch that it is true what he says."

The guard grunted again shooting a light scowl in Will's direction. He didn't trust him, for his likeness was too close to that of the apes, one of the sworn enemies of the dragons. His resentment didn't go beyond a face of ill content, for it was not his place to take swift judgement into his own hands… err, paws or claws or… whatever. The gruff guard eyed each of them carefully, taking in as many details about them as he could; it was his duty after all to make sure the city was safe. It wasn't long after that a slow running and very puffed messenger returned to the gates. He jogged, more so stumbled, up to the gruff guard and relayed his message to him, out of earshot from the others. The guard replied with an affirmative grunt and sent the messenger back on his way.

"Hunter, and others, you are permitted to enter and have your business your own," stated the guard, gruff as ever, "They request an audience with you all as soon as possible; you though, uhh, 'Homo-sapiens', under escort, will need to be taken to the interrogation chamber for… shall I say, security assurances."

Will's eyes widened, he'd feared such drastic measures would be taken. He glanced at Hunter, distress evident in his face. Hunter returned his gaze and gave a warm smile; Will took it as his way of saying that he'll sort it out, and not to worry. He only hoped this was the case.

"If it be in your best interest captain," retaliated Hunter, on the brink of being cold, "we are **all** on our way to see the guardians immediately. Young Will here is none to be suspicious of, we have heard his story, and know of his… deeds. If it's any consolidation, I'll make sure he doesn't stir up trouble or deviate from us."

"Grr… Lucky for you, Hunter, that you are in high places with the guardians, or I'd have you imprisoned for that! Fine, escort him yourself, but if anything go wrong, I'm holding you accountable, and that'll be something to add in my report."

The order for the main gate to be opened was given, quite reluctantly, and the company were permitted inside. Once they'd cleared out of the gates way on the other side, it closed with a loud bang, almost as if a resentment in itself.

"Sorry that you had to go through that will," apologised Hunter, "Captain Edwards is quite a brute, and very hard-headed."

"It's all fine Hunter, don't worry about it. Just thanks for the assistance."

"Well for what it's worth, we're here," said Hunter, "Welcome one and all to Warfang, the pioneering city in commerce, production, and technology; home to many a dragon, mole, cheetah, and others."

Will was amazed at the sight he saw: the size, architecture, and population was immense. Almost every building had its own unique beauty about it, with various patterns, brickwork or stonework, shape and size, and colour. It was a sight to behold, but with no time to stand and gaze at the city or its life, further details Will had no time to capture. The only one amongst them who knew how to navigate through Warfang, as it seemed, was Hunter and he wasted no time in walking. Spyro, Cynder and Sparx were all just as captivated by the city, and when focus diverted to walking, they each silently grumbled and protested. The people, rather, residents of the city were all very busy bustling about to and fro, taking no notice of anything that didn't concern them and their business. That is to say, not many, for some took notice of Spyro, giving an estranged look towards him, some took notice of Cynder, tossing looks similar in nature, and some took notice of Will, glaring at him with some level of hostility. Will was nervous to stare at anyone for any real length of time, but noticed himself the looks they gave him: he found it somewhat distressing, and otherwise plain rude.

"It's a little bit away to the temple from here," established Hunter, speaking over his shoulder, "and the roads we'll be using are quite busy, so keep very close, and don't look track."

* * *

At last the journey was coming to its end, the chaotic and confusing journey that Spyro, Cynder, Sparx and Will had to endure to reach the doors of the dragon temple. Hunter led them up a quite large set of stairs to the grand wooden doors that granted entrance to the temple. The veranda, if it could be called that, was extremely large, comparable to a Greek or Roman palace, but scaled up twofold. At the front of the temple stood at least a dozen guards spread out along the perimeter, the two at the entrance armed with pikes. Most of them were moles, and they were armed with short-swords, and the rest were cheetahs, one between three moles, and they were armed with quite large crossbows – probably arbalests.

"You see those crossbows Will," asked Hunter, pointing, "They're one of the newest weapons, introduced into the military forces about a decade ago. Only the temple guards can use those, and even then, only the cheetahs, for cheetahs have the best accuracy."

"So the cheetahs, like yourself are esteemed marksmen?"

"If that is your word for accurate, then yes," replied Hunter, "Traditionalists like myself see more skill in the regular bow, as do most in my village. So you won't see many of those being used in battle."

"If I see many battles that is," added Will.

"Will, if you want to help out, you're going to need to fight," said Spyro, "You **do** know that right?"

Will, shrugged and said, "Perhaps I'll fight – help out – another way." There was nothing more said on the matter, but by that time, the company were well within the temple. It was extraordinary to say the least. Like the cities buildings, the walls were adorned with patterns, symbols and other decorative pieces, be it paintings or sculptures.

"_Truly this city – this world, this era_," mused Will, "_…is the Renaissance of aesthetics… and other things I guess_."

They came up to a large, round door with a series of four round, light-like objects positioned in a triangular pattern, with the forth in the middle acting as the divider of the door. As they approached, voices could be heard – four of them – and they sounded excited for the most part. Will wondered what it was that they could be so excited about. Hunter almost hit his face against the round door as he walked right up to it; luckily it opened just in time automatically, as if a something sensed him draw near. Hunter strode right in, not faltering his pace one bit, where as Spyro and Cynder practically bound in. It seems they knew who the voices belonged to, and they were just as excited as the four voices sounded. Will however took a little more time walking in, slackening his pace as he passed the threshold of the new room to observe his surroundings. His conclusion: it was huge!

"Ignitus," exclaimed Spyro.

"Spyro! You and Cynder are alive!" exclaimed Ignitus, "I'd almost given up hope for good, that quake from the Well of Souls was felt from everywhere."

"Yes, it's very good to see you two," said a yellow dragon, "absolutely marvellous, stupendous that you should make it out of there alive."

"Hey, Volteer, motor mouth," grumbled Sparx, "you're forgetting about me! Am I something worth not remembering?"

"No of course not Sparx," replied Volteer, somewhat sheepishly, "you have equal importance to us all."

"Hunter," began the green dragon with a deep voice, "I trust that there were no complications in your mission?"

"None at all Terrador," responded Hunter, "Though with one deviation in plan."

"How so," asked the light-blue dragon, "Did you run into trouble?"

"Not exactly Cyril…"

It was at this point that each of the four guardians, Ignitus, Volteer, Terrador, and Cyril, looked over at Will simultaneously. They all bore similar expressions, frowns of confusion and intrigue. Will grew a little nervous, and gave a nervous smile to show it; he didn't know how he should behave in front of the guardians… polite and formal seemed the most suitable.

"What is this creature who stands before us," queried Volteer, "It is none which I have seen in my lifetime."

"It stands similar to an ape, though does not look like one," pondered Cyril.

"It does not appear to be a threat," judged Terrador, "and yet it may be more than what I imagine."

"Hunter, Spyro, Cynder," started Ignitus, "Just what have you brought with you?"

Each member of the company looked at Will, their faces telling him to introduce himself. Will gulped a little before he considered saying anything; no words came to mind immediately, but after a deep breath, he gave a low and very polite bow, and began to speak in his formal way.

"Good sirs, guardians, my name is William Alexander. My species is foreign to these lands, even to this world. We occupy another world where we dominate the surface and the skies; we call it 'Earth'. My species are known, by formal standards, as 'Homo-sapiens', or 'Human Beings' if you prefer. I am quite unsure how I came to this world, or why for that matter, but I can assure you that I mean no harm to your society."

The guardians looked at each other, dumbfounded, for they didn't know how to take that message. Here stood before them the spitting image of something created in many likenesses of the apes, and yet, beared no affiliation with them. They still had their suspicions and it was Terrador who broke the ice to tell him of this.

"Uhh… William Alexander, if that is what you yourself are called," he said, "Please do not take this as insulting, but you have many similarities to our enemies, the apes. By this reckoning, we cannot allow you to stay here in Warfang until we know that you are not with them."

"Oh, but sir I can assure you that I am not," reassured Will, "The only contact which I have had with apes so far are very unfriendly, if you can understand my meaning. I don't have any relations with them in any way, I am not one of them."

"Nonetheless," rebutted Terrador, "We cannot take chances with you, no matter whether you are one of them or despise them."

"Terrador speaks wisdom," conquered Cyril, "We do not know your species and for all we know, you could be a cold blooded killer."

"My reluctance to kill is great," argued Will, "I wouldn't hurt anybody without a worthy cause; I'm not without morals or principles."

"Our apologies William Alexander," apologised Volteer, "That is our decision."

Will was hurt and confused, why should they reject him into Warfang so judgementally? He could feel his blood heat up as his emotions were provoked; this prejudice against him was aggravating and hurtful. His fists clenched and shook with anger, his teeth gritted and grinded with extreme pressure.

"I be polite and respectful and receive nothing of it," began his vengeful speech, "Such resentment will achieve nothing if it won't provoke my emotions. What do you see wrong with me?! Do I not have eyes?! Can I not see the world in which I breathe in?! Do I not have a mind, can I not think independently?! Do I not have a heart, am I without life?! Is my blood thick?! Are my eyes blazing?! Is my mind cold?! Is my heart stone?! Am I without emotion?! Can I not feel pain, love, anxiety, peace, anger, sadness, or happiness, the same as any of you?! It is that which I ask you not to discriminate and judge that which you don't understand. If you were to chance me and I could prove to you that I can be of service to you and of the city… then so be it."

Will surprised himself with what he had said with such audacity. He stood firm by his words and hoped that it would sway the guardians' minds. The others in the chamber, Spyro, Cynder, Sparx, Hunter, and each of the four guardians were shocked in horror. Such things are just not said! Not to those who are of the highest authority, though that is what Will thought was the case. Ignitus was the only one of the four who did not feel as much shock, he was collected and calm, and his mind changed.

"Very well William Alexander," he calmly began, "You've made your point very clear. We won't judge until we know all there is to know about you. One thing I'm sure all four of us picked up is that you believe in fairness and justice. Perhaps you join our cause against our enemies and fight for us?"

"Fight against the forces of Malefor," clarified Will, "I'm no fighter, you've heard me say about my reluctance to kill things, sentient things at least. I don't think I'd be of much use there."

"But you wouldn't have much use anywhere else," countered Ignitus, "We have no need of artisans…"

"…nor miners…" added Cyril.

"…nor scientists…" interjected Volteer.

"…just soldiers," finished Terrador.

"If you want to help us at all, if you want a chance, you'll need to kill for the greater good of the world."

"_What could I do then_," thought Will, "_I'm no soldier. I won't follow the code of a soldier. Perhaps_…"

"Give me the night to think it over," requested Will, "This is obviously very important and I'd like to think about it very carefully."

The guardians nodded and Will bowed once more. They gave permission for him to take his leave and sent a servant with him to show him to a dormitory that he could sleep in. As Will left, he turned back to look at all who were in the chamber. He paid attention to their expressions: hope… that's what they read; hope that he'd reach the right decision, hope that he'd help them in their struggle, that's what he saw, and that's what he hoped too.

* * *

Will sighed heavily. He'd been thinking non-stop for at least an hour and a half, his watch read 7:12. He hadn't any idea what he was to do, what he would do for the guardians and the people of Warfang. That was the clincher, the people, the innocent people who deserved no disparity.

"_Oh goodness, what to do, what to do. I need something to help me think better, but what could do that_?"

He remembered… in his pouch lay a wooden pipe. Pipes were only good for one thing and that was smoking. What good does smoking do? If Will could remember correctly, tobacco contained nicotine which was supposedly a stimulant, like caffeine. In theory that would make him think a little more clearly, but it was a gamble: better thinking for poor lung health. It took him a minute before he decided that he'd try to get all the extra thinking power he could. So he took out his pipe and the matches from one of his pouches and looked for tobacco. Hidden inside of a chestnut cabinet was a small pot filled with a brown tobacco, or what Will could only assume to be.

"_Risk versus reward. Should I do this? I know smoking is bad for me, but there is the chance I could think better if I do. This decision will change my life so it may be worth a try. Hmm… Stuff it, I'm going to try anyway_."

Will filled the bowl of the pipe with the tobacco, not too much as only a little was required. He placed the pipe in his mouth at the left corner and held it firmly with his lips and teeth. He took a match out of the box and struck it against the striking surface. The bowl of the pipe radiated with heat and smoke rose in a thin trail. He inhaled deeply and coughed very shortly after… it was awful.

"_Never again will I do this_."

His mind now began to focus solely on his dilemma, what was he to do? He weighed the positives and negatives to determine the best outcome. It took time, about thirty minutes of his time before he reached a conclusion he liked.

"_The innocent lives at risk are too great a cause to just ignore. I must protect them anyway I can, even if it means I must kill others. I __**will**__ protect my own existence in any way that situation calls for; I __**will **__**not**__ kill assailants if they do not intend to do such to me. I __**will**__ protect the innocent; __**no**__ harm by my doing will ever come to them, provided such harm isn't required for the greater good of many more lives. I __**will**__ protect those whom I care about, those whom I trust, and those whom I have a strong connection with. I __**will**__ kill only the enemy to our cause, and __**will**__ avoid killing if a fit reason to do so is reached. I __**will **__**not**__ endanger anyone who does not deserve it, and I __**will **__**not**__ let any harm come to those who don't deserve it, no matter what the cost_."

"This is my creed," he said aloud, "I am not a soldier; this creed is not of a soldier. I am not a mercenary; this creed is not of a hired killer. I am not a thief; this creed is not of a cutthroat. Nay, I am a protector of the people, hiding in the shadows, passing unnoticed, and serving for the greater good. Thereby, this creed is of… an assassin."

* * *

**A/N: Phew, that was a lot to write down. Sorry if you weren't expecting this chapter to be so long, I surprised myself too (not kidding when I say it was nine whole pages long in Word). So Will is going to be an assassin, not a rip-off of Assassin's Creed mind you, but kinda close to that kind all the same, weapons-wise that is. Also by the way, I don't condone smoking, it just worked as a good plot device and may be used again if Will is faced with life changing decisions. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Leave a review if you wish. Until next time!**


	9. Chapter 8 - A Stupid Idea

**A/N: Another day, another chapter, another addition to the adventure. Hopefully the last chapter brought more of the developed plot into view, and hopefully this chapter will move things forward (and hopefully there aren't any mistakes :P). Leave a review if you wish; I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I am without ownership to the Legend of Spyro series. What I do own is my original character, Will Alexander.**

* * *

Chapter 8 – A Stupid Idea

It was 7:47 by Will's watch; the sky was still lighting, but was bright enough for the day to have begun. Spyro treaded alongside Cynder, at distance, but none to take up too much space in the hallway they were walking down. The floor was tiled in a hexagonal pattern, the individual tiles were quite large themselves, and they were coloured a pearl white and bordered with coal black. In fact they were marble tiles, so the natural pattern that the marble had gave the hallway character: character that says it was a hallway leading to destinations, and destinations it did take them. They were headed for Will's room, rather the room he had been occupying for the night, and they were eager; eager to know what he was going to do, whether he was for the cause. They came up to a reasonably sized wooden door, made of a dark coloured oak, and carved with rectangular shaped and bevelled edges: for something remarkably plain, it was still beautiful in its own right.

"I hope he's with us," whispered Spyro, "I feel that he would do a lot of good, and help us out so much if he were. It would give him purpose in this city, and this war."

Cynder nodded in concurrence, and turned to the door to knock. With the back of her slightly clenched hand (they're technically feet), she gave a strong knock, none which would wake any surrounding occupant, but only bring the intended occupant to attention. Within the next few seconds, footsteps could be heard approaching and the door handle twisting, to which Will's face appeared 'round the door.

"Ah, Spyro, Cynder, good to see you," he greeted, "Come in, come in. Make yourselves welcome."

They did just that, stepping through the door frame and finding two large cushions, which Will would describe as a couch, to sit on. Instantly, they could smell something strange in the room, something smoky and unpleasant. Cynder looked for a source and saw the pipe that Will had been using next to a small bowl filled with ashes. This left her quizzical, as she recalled on their way to Warfang, a conversation about the same pipe Will pulled out to look at. He had denied that he ever used it, saying that he 'didn't smoke', and yet here it was with a pile of ash next to it, in a room that smelt of smoke.

"Hey, Will, I thought you said you didn't smoke," she remarked to him with a raised brow.

"I don't, I just started," was the reply, "Last night, I did **a lot** of thinking, and very important thinking no less. I thought that I should try to get as much thinking power as I could, so I thought what I could use to enhance my thinking and focus. I'll be honest, were there better options at hand, I'd have used them, but this was the best I had, and for the most-part it worked."

"So does that mean you reached a conclusion?"

"Yes it does, and I feel that it's the best thing for me to do. But I'll only say when we are with the guardians, they need to know above all," explained Will.

"Aww, c'mon. It matters to us too," protested Spyro, "Especially us, since we need to know whether you can help **us** out. We are tethered together, and only Malefor can break it."

Will still refused to say yet; he preferred a little suspense anyway, no matter if he thought it should be obvious to them by now. And it was to his satisfaction that I slipped straight over their heads. Will, deciding the smell of the room was getting too much, went over to the balcony doors to his right, and opened them up to allow the fresh morning air to flow into the room and expel the smokiness. He turned to Spyro and Cynder and indicated towards the door for them to make their way out, which he followed suit. As Will exited his room, he shut the door, but turned the handle as he did to not make a loud noise that may disturb others around him. Spyro led them down the marble hallway of doors, windows, chandeliers and carpets to the end of one of the dormitory sections of the temple. A set of stairs was located to the right hand side of the hallway, just before another section of dormitories, and it was these stairs that they navigated down to reach the ground floor. At the bottom, Spyro could smell a pleasant aroma, one that the others cared less about, and turned his head in the direction it came from. To the right of the stairwell were two fairly sized wooden doors that were ajar just enough to see the entire depth of the room it lead to. It was the smell through those doors that Spyro's nose drew near to and rightly so, for it was the smell of breakfast being prepared, and Spyro was very hungry. Cynder turned her head to face his as they were walking, but instead of seeing Spyro's normal face, she saw him in a kind of trance and drooling ever so slightly. She frowned in confusion, and decided to get to the bottom of his strange behaviour.

"Hey Spyro," she called to get his attention, "What's going on with you?"

"Huh- what was that," he rushed to say without thinking, "Breakfast?"

Cynder rolled her eyes at him: how typical. She turned to face Will instead, but instead of seeing a friendly face, she saw him zoned out and staring at nothing. He appeared to be completely oblivious as to what was happening around him, as he didn't even acknowledge her in any way. What he was thinking about so hard, she had no idea, but it seemed like it was important enough to forget everything else around him. What he was actually thinking about was how to break the news to the guardians; how would he do it? It was about at that time that the three entered the grand chamber that they had been in the evening before, and the four guardians of fire, ice, earth and electricity were waiting inside. They were obviously occupied amongst themselves, talking to one another as if it were some kind of forum, and Will could tell by the occasional loose word that it was pretty important. Cynder was the first to greet them, but actually sounded as if she were purposefully interrupting them, by giving a deliberate cough that was audible to everyone. The guardians peered over to where the cough had emanated from and smiled warmly upon seeing them standing there.

"Ahhhh, good morning to you all," greeted Cyril, "I trust that you all slept quite well?"

"William, how are you this morning," asked Volteer, "Have you decided your standpoint yet?

On the opposite side of the room, another door opened to reveal Hunter walking in with Sparx hovering beside him. No attention was given to them and Hunter understood it without a word being uttered, but Sparx didn't. He was about to start complaining about a lack of attention, but Hunter shut him up before even a squeak came out of him. Will took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh, and Spyro, Cynder and the guardians literally leaned forward in anticipation.

"I will help, I will fight," he said very seriously, "and it will be direct action that I take. However… I will not be a soldier, I will not fight by a soldier's terms; I will only fight by my own. The list is long so let me speak them to you clearly so you won't forget; keep in mind that there may be some slight exceptions. I will protect as many innocent lives as I can, and will stay my blade from their flesh, 'less many more innocent lives be saved otherwise. By all means, I will avoid that option unless there is absolutely no alternative that can ever be presented. The only ones I will kill without second thought is our enemy, but I may avoid killing some if there is no danger in leaving them alive. Finally… no one whom I fight with, nor for will ever be endangered or harmed by my doing, not unless their deserving is justified by serious crime or treason. This assassin's creed that I have developed will be what I act by from for the entire duration of the war."

The guardians were surprised to say the least that a young individual, such as Will, would be able to think of, refine, and adopt a code to live by for the rest of his days. But in spite of surprise, they were otherwise thrilled; if fact everyone present in the room was practically cheering at this development. Will looked at the faces around him, realising what was going on, and rubbed his hand on the back of his neck, looking quite embarrassed. Shortly after, the cheering died down and business was resumed; the guardians still had things to discuss with Will concerning his decision.

"Given that you have described yourself as adopting an 'assassin's creed'," started Terrador, "as an assassin, you'll need to choose a combat discipline to follow, and one that is generally silent. You could strike up close, or from afar… which one would be best for you?"

"Either won't do separately," he replied without thinking, "not for my purposes. I'll be cross-disciplinary, both trained in swordplay and archery. That way, I can eliminate targets using either method."

"Then what weapons would you propose you carry," asked Ignitus, "A sword and a bow together can be cumbersome and may get in the way a lot."

Will thought for a moment… silence was key, but also having large enough weapons to fight in full combat was very desirable. Then it hit him. His time on Earth playing many video games led him to an inspiration of silent swords and concealed bows, and it was Assassin's Creed that the greatest level of inspiration came from.

"I'll design and make special equipment for me to use," explained Will, "I can use a wrist blade concealed on my forearm, a telescopic sword that extends thrice its length, and as far as ranged combat goes, balanced throwing knives will have to do for now."

"And how would you suggest these be made?"

"If I can develop accurate and precise schematics for each weapon, hopefully I can find a smith who'll make the individual parts for me to assemble," finished Will.

"If you can manage the designing of everything you'll need," said Cyril, "I'll direct you to a high quality smith and craftsman, and have him forge what you need. But make sure you only design what you absolutely need, nothing more."

"Agreed," concurred Ignitus, "after all, the city doesn't have infinite funds, and there is an economy to up-keep too. Anything else you may need as extras you'll need to obtain out of your own pocket; Warfang has many jobs to offer so that shouldn't be a problem."

Will nodded affirmatively and bowed respectfully, and his train of thought shifted to when the war was actually starting. If it was almost here, then he wouldn't have much time for anything. How far away was it?

"Uhh…" his wondering thoughts allowed him to muster, "just how long until this war? Do I have time to prepare, to train? Because these designs will take several days at best to make, and several more to be built."

"That'll be a little bit of a problem," informed Terrador, "Our spies have reported that many of Malefor's forces are just one week away from marching. Unless we can sabotage their armies, we have until then."

"Though I may not have proper training, I could still help with that," proposed Will, "Simple weapons would be fine for now: a short sword and a knife. In fact I have memorised a design for a different special knife which I can have built right away. So inconspicuousness is still feasible."

"Will, I don't think you'll make it if you try," warned Cynder, "I know what Malefor has in store – and I should know – and his armies are very powerful and very well defended from anything that might attack."

"I agree with Cynder Will," added Hunter, "You may have killed a few grunts and a lieutenant, but sabotaging an entire brigade, it's just not possible for one being!"

"You don't have any form," finished Spyro, "you don't even know how to fight!"

Will completely stopped his thoughts, as if his brain completely rebooted. When he resumed moments later, his head clicked, but it wasn't even his idea… While his brain stopped letting him think in those few moments, a lingering, whispering voice was inserted where the gap was made; but it wasn't one he recognised.

"_The strength of an army's strike, the speed of an eye's blink, and the sound of a whisper's drift – nothing more but a voice in the shadows_."

He pondered on this unknown voice for a few seconds; there wasn't any doubt it referred to him in some way, but in what way was yet determined. Inference however gave him confidence: confidence that he would succeed, and it was this confidence that led him to his decision. He smiled at Spyro, Cynder and Hunter in a way that said he had a plan and a way to succeed.

"A man who hides in the night is one with the shadows," he spoke low and cryptically, "a man who strikes undetected is gone again in an instant; a man who moves silent is never heard from again… I'll go, and I'm going alone: strike them where they're vulnerable, alter their plans, and set them back."

Will then turned away to face the large doors they'd entered from and started to walk towards them. The room was once again silent in surprise at the level of bravery… nay, stupidity, that Will displayed. He was walking to his doom, and he knew the possibility well, but he didn't even know himself anymore… what was he even capable of that he didn't know?

"Where are you going then Will," asked, almost demanded Cynder.

Will stopped in his tracks, pulled out his watch, winded it briefly, and put it back in his pocket. He then turned his head to face her.

"To breakfast," he called back at them, "Aren't you coming?"

And with that, he hesitated no more, and opened the grand doors, headed for the mess hall.

* * *

Spyro was setting the pace for them, but gradually increasing it to a very fast walk. For you see, in the midst of the happenings that was happening in the hall, Spyro grew hungrier and hungrier by the second. And so he desired his fill as soon as he could, even if that meant hurrying Cynder up in an unfriendly way. But in the end, they reached the now bustling mess hall, looking around to see where to get breakfast, and where to sit. The hall itself was divided into two unequal sections: the smaller being the section to get food at the counter, and the larger being the dining area. So far, no hall compared to the sheer size of the mess hall, not even the hall they had spent the earlier of the morning listening to Will. This made perfect sense to both of them, for to accommodate for hundreds in one building, a large space is required. It was Spyro to spot where the counter was, and he wasted no time in speeding over there with Cynder grumbling a little further behind.

"_One day_," she grumbled to herself, "_One day I'll do just the same, and see how he likes being dragged along this damn chain_."

Over the next five minutes, food was finally obtained, first by Spyro, who at least had some decency to wait for Cynder, and the by Cynder who upon meeting with Spyro, gave him a tap over the head with her tail. Were it not for the fact that Spyro was balancing a tray with one arm, he would have rubbed his head in pain, but if he did, then he would utterly lose his balance and topple over.

"Oww, dammit," he whined in a regular whine of pain, "What the hell Cynder? That wasn't called for."

"Don't ditch me Spyro," she hissed, "Do I need to remind you that we are bound together! You practically dragged me across the damn floor!"

"Um… well sorry for that. I guess I forgot."

Cynder scowled at that last part, but took no further action against it. Instead, attention was taken towards where to sit. Will had of course sat down already, for he had arrived sooner; so the best thing for them, was to find Will. The tables weren't very long, but there were many of them, and they were positioned semi-awkwardly so that two people behind each other may end up bumping each other, were they to get up from their seat simultaneously. If this were ever the case, by which it almost never was, generally a turn of the head, a nervous laugh and apology was all that was given. Cynder managed to spot Will sitting not too far from the entrance, on a table next to the centre aisle. He was sitting by himself, which was understandable considering that no one else knew what he was, and thought he was some kind of hairless biped… thing. The occasional stare was tossed his way, but he took no note. The two carefully navigated their way past other moles, dragons and cheetahs that were finding their own seats, and sat down at Will's table. This action caused even more stares, odd looks, and furrowed brows to be shot their way, as even more confusion arose at the prospect of two dragons seeming to have connection with a completely unknown creature. But ignorance would only last for so long.

"Hey there," greeted Will taking a bite into a slice of melon, "You took a bit longer than I anticipated: I'm almost half done!"

"We had a little chat after you left," informed Cynder, "at least for as long as Spyro's stomach could last."

This earned a glare from Spyro and a smirk from Cynder, and Will just smiled in amusement. Despite his glare, he immediately began devouring his meal, and Cynder continued.

"Anyway, we both think that you shouldn't take on such a task as you are. You don't know what you're up against, you don't know what they've got, you don't know a thing about fighting, and you don't any means to do so."

"Weren't you paying attention Cynder," asked Will, "If you were, you'd know that I said I have a plan for building concealable weapons. Also, I shouldn't have to fight if I'm not seen, which the whole idea is. And I do know what we're up against – at least half of it – I hid in a tree whilst I watched an entire platoon of apes march right past; I went completely undetected until I revealed myself."

"And we both know how that went down," she retorted, "a pile of dead apes, and a guilt-ridden boy with an arrow in his shoulder. And that's another thing!"

Will actually forgot all about his shoulder; since the previous morning in fact. He looked at it to examine the wound he received from the archer several days ago. It wasn't healed over yet, the fabric of his shirt was barely torn, but it was stained a dark red, that made it seem like he had something spilt on him. It was virtually painless, he felt nothing of it aside from some minor numbing which took away most feeling, but he could still feel any pressure applied.

"Well I can't feel it Cynder," retaliated Will, "Which if I'm not mistaken, means that it's not a problem. The point I'm trying to make is that if I'm quick and quiet, I 'ought to be able to infiltrate their encampment and tamper with anything necessary. And I certainly feel like that's doable."

Cynder sighed quite heavily and looked at Spyro who was now paying more attention, and eating more slowly. They exchanged looks and Spyro shrugged at what to say: there wasn't anything that he could bring up that Will wouldn't probably dismiss. And he would be right, for Will had made up his mind, even if everyone thought he'd lost it.

"…Alright listen, if there's something I can do to make you feel a bit better about this, then I'll make sure that I go through combat training first," negotiated Will, "Then at least I can fight off anyone I fail to silence and be quick about it too. There's not much else I can do to make this any safer, short of being invisible."

He scoffed at his own words: if he were invisible… like that would ever be physically possible. And while he's at it, maybe he could teleport too, and bend reality; the most preposterous things he could ever entertain in his mind! He took another look at the two dragons sitting in front of him; they seemed concerned… deeply concerned. Just when he thought he'd sorted out a mess, he'd stumbled into a new one, all because he was set on sabotaging half an army, and so quickly too.

"Will… there isn't anything that could make this better," said Spyro, "you've been here for how many days? Three? And you're wanting to go on a suicide mission? Whatever could've made you want to do something suicidal? From what character I've picked up, that's not something you'd do!"

He was right: it wasn't Will's idea, it was somebody else's; somebody unknown. And that unknown somebody had reasons, it knew what would happen in the end. And it knew that that end must be reached one way or another. Will didn't realise this properly though, only that it wasn't his own thinking. And the idea wasn't going away, so what was to be done then?

"I agree, it isn't me. But it isn't going away, so I'm going to act upon it until it does. I agree… it's crazy; I agree…. it's suicide; I agree… I haven't experience. But there are things that can benefit from this; and my creed states that I will prevent innocent lives from being destroyed, no matter the cost."

Will stood up, placing his knife and fork side-by-side on his empty plate – empty as in no edible food left, and not the husk of a watermelon, the bone of a lamb-chop, and the shells of pecan nuts– and picked up his tray. He was prepared to leave again, going to get what he needed for the mission, but before he left his friends, he smiled warmly and gave his last comforting words for the day.

"I came here for a reason that I don't know yet, and it'd be really dumb if I was to come here only to die," he reasoned, "Don't worry, my time is far from here. All you need to have is faith that I'm going to be fine. Just believe in your strengths and I'll believe in mine, and that'll be the force that causes our paths to recross. I promise."

* * *

Will stood firm in his belief that he should go on this mission, even though he only made up his mind a couple hours beforehand. The guardians of ice, fire, electricity and earth were far from willing to let it go ahead on a whim, and especially to someone of a species they had empty knowledge of. Terrador was the most reluctant, being a military leader, general, and genius; his knowledge of battle, war, and the foes he's faced, which is a lot, caused him to know with utmost certainty that Will would be utterly outmatched. In his eyes, it was a death trap. In Volteer's eyes, only the swiftest, the most cunning, and the strongest would ever see hopes of penetrating the outermost defences; it would take even more to go further than that! Cyril saw it as blatant stupidity, that being his more frank substitution for mindless braveness. And Ignitus, he was more concerned about the consequences that would arise were Will to fail; the people of Warfang… moles, cheetahs and dragon-kind would be slaughtered mercilessly without warning.

"I goes without saying, young William, but you have no hope to succeed," said Terrador pointing out the obvious, obvious to all but Will.

"Malefor's forces of grublins and wyverns are impossible to slow," added Cyril, "Infiltration is hopeless, and attempts are met with severe ferocity… so our scouts have reported."

"I hate to break it to you, but it isn't… just… those things you just said," informed Will hesitantly, "There are also apes. I saw an entire platoon of them in a large field to the south of the city, a bit less than a day's journey or so. They were vicious, and I think they were looking for me at the time, but that's not the point. The point is that they are still part of Malefor's armies, though I don't know why you'd think they weren't anymore."

"Undoubtedly dreadwings would be fighting with them again, which means even more trouble… Ugh, we can save that story for another time," groaned Ignitus, "and continue discussing the current matter. Whatever the situation is William, we cannot allow you to embark on the mission: it is simply too dangerous."

"Ignitus, if I may call you Ignitus, I understand your concern, but the simple fact here is that you're entertaining things that might go wrong; the thing is that they won't, not on my watch. If you wonder why I'm so adamant, it's because a few things: my creed, my conscience, and my obligation to help those who need it."

Ignitus sighed, not dissimilar to a sigh of defeat, and he may as well have done. Volteer, Cyril, and Terrador exchanged looks that, like Ignitus' sigh, was not too unlike looks of defeat. Will made his case and wasn't leaving it anytime soon; sure the guardians could forbid him of going and leaving it there, but that wasn't something they feel they could do in this situation. But Ignitus still had one last question itching in his mind.

"William, can you at least tell me this," he asked, "Is this something that you thought of doing yourself?"

Will shook his head, and stated it wasn't his idea, for it wasn't his voice in his head that thought of it. From then on, Ignitus had a hunch about where this idea had come from, and who had planted it there. But his speculation was nothing more than that, and could not be confirmed. Cyril walked towards Will, and right past him towards the exit of the chamber.

"If you are going," he began without looking back, "I trust you have finished your knife design?"

"Yes sir. The schematics are finished: shape, dimensions and all."

"Then I will take you to the smith we have make our battle armour," he responded, "He is the finest smith in the land of Avalar, and he uses only the highest grade steel. But first we must go to the treasury, for great things come at a price. Come."

Will bowed to the other three guardians respectfully, and turned and trotted his way to where Cyril was standing at the large wooden doors. Seconds after, the great doors closed, and the other guardians were left in their own company. Terrador and Volteer went on discussing something else, but not unrelated to what was being spoken before. Ignitus on the other hand went to the centre of the chamber to where a round, green pool of liquid was located. He stared intently into this pool and began to have a vision that showed him triumph and peril. This vision was not long, nor clear, but this is what is to be expected when seeing what is unseen in the pool of visions. But in all that he could make out, triumph stood high, though pain endured to bring it.

"_William_," he thought deep in his mind, "_Whatever will happen?_"

* * *

"So what is your currency called here," asked Will pondering himself.

"We call them crystals, though in actual fact they are far from," answered Cyril, "The reason we call them that anyway is that there are special crystalline structures that occur in the world that we know as 'Spirit Gems'. These gems are a gift from our ancestors and they are used for rejuvenating health, and revitalising strength. We call them 'gems', though they are actually crystals, and our money that we call 'crystals' are actually gemstones."

"Oh I see," understood Will, "A bit peculiar but still, I understand. So what are the values? Is it by colour?"

"Yes, red is worth one, green is worth five, purple is worth twenty-five, and yellow is worth a hundred. Volteer could go on and on about how their size is perfectly relative to their amount, but he's the only one who actually cares. Now you're going to need a few hundred crystals for special orders and a dagger combined, so I'll give you seven yellow crystals."

Cyril opened a large wooden chest to reveal a torrent of iridescent yellow light beaming from the chest. The entire contents was exclusively yellow crystals, numbering in the thousands, and other nearby chests had other crystals inside. He plucked out seven of the glowing crystals and shut the lid of the chest, giving the crystals to Will before he did so. The crystals were actually quite big; were Will to hold out his fist, one crystal would size to three-quarters of it. Will put as many of these crystals as he could in the back-left pouch on his belt, as it had the most space available. Three remained, and those ones had to be put in the front-left pouch.

"Now then young William," announced Cyril, "to the blacksmith!"

* * *

"This is the strangest order I've had yet," said the smith scratching his head, "And a special design too; is it something common where your… kind… dwell?"

Will furrowed his brow at the old, stout smith just below him. He may be confusing and assumed closely to a sworn enemy, but he was still different, if only others wouldn't assume. He could see a reflection in the smith's round, dark blue goggles, and it was the face of a confused individual that reflected back at him.

"Well, not exactly," was the reply, "and please be a little more sensitive at the fact I am **not** an ape-hybrid: I am a human being; completely different."

"Umm… my apologies," apologised the smith, "I speak of what I saw, and if what you say is true, then it is ignorance I see. To rephrase a bit better: is this blade something that humans use often?"

"Only by a small minority, as there are many, many humans that live in the world I did," explained Will, "And there are restrictions as such. So only a few million may own a blade like this."

Will couldn't see, but the smith's eyes widened tremendously under his goggles. He was stoked to hear a number so high in relation to a population. There were just under a million in Warfang, and that was considered overpopulation, but more than that about a species was just so many. And they were a minority!

"Well… uhh…" stammered the stoked smith, "That's certainly a lot… of blades I mean. I guess I can make this for you, you've provided schematics at least."

"Don't worry about anything but forging the individual parts to the sketch. I can assemble it easily after they're done with some pins and a spring. Oh and make sure that the handle-piece is made from one piece of metal instead of several; it's stronger that way."

"Well it's not conventional for me to do, but I'll make it a good one anyway," said the smith with confidence, "The blade itself will only take an hour, but the other parts will take twice each due to the complexity of the shape. Is there anything else before I start working?"

"Indeed," replied Will, nodding, "I also require a dagger, something that is long and strong enough to parry sword strikes. Do you have anything like that?"

"I do, actually, despite there being a lack of reason to have any," affirmed the smith, "Not many people ask for that, so you can see why I say that."

The smith gestured for Will to stay in the workshop, while he went to his stores to find what he was looking for. He returned a few minutes later with a long dagger – its blade was about as long as Will's forearm – sheathed in an onyx black scabbard that had several thin coils of steel bands wrapped around in a helical pattern, and a thin plate of steel at the tip and in the same shape. The length and width wasn't very different from a traditional dirk, and the size and shape of the hand guard wasn't very different from a cinquedia, though a bit shallower and shorter. The smith passed the dagger at the blade end to Will, who grasped the handle with his right hand and the sheath in the other. Slowly, and standing at some distance from the smith, Will drew the dagger, its bright silver shine reflecting the light of nearby torches and forge fires, giving the illusion that it was burning.

"To say the least…" began Will, mesmerised, "…this blade is absolutely beautiful. Th- this blade is the most beautiful I've ever seen!"

"I'm a little surprised you say that," stated the smith, flattered by Will's reaction, "I say that because I have many other blades that are much more decorated than that dagger; not to mention expensive. That one there is only worth a fraction of one of my gilded swords, which trust me when I say 'it's much more beautiful'."

"You say that as if this is mundane. But I think this is the best I've seen, and I think it's the right one for me."

"Always good to hear that," smiled the smith, "No good getting a blade that isn't right for you, now is it. You'll have to name it."

Will furrowed his brown at the smith when he said this: why does he need to name it? Whatever for? The smith saw Will's expression of confusion and enlightened him.

"Whenever someone chooses their perfect blade, a connection is made," he explained, "This connection runs deep, like a bond between brothers. The connection between the blade and its wielder is very important; according to traditional smithing manuals, it allows the wielder to be in better tune with his blade, to know how it'll strike, how it'll move, how it'll resist. Staying in tune is imperative therefore, for if you don't stay in tune and have a connection, you'll never know how to use it. So to finalise this connection, you need to choose a name for it."

Will looked at the shining blade of the dagger, and the fiery glow it had, trying to find the appropriate name for it that he knew was right for it. He looked at the scabbard, the glossy onyx hue it had, and the helical strips of steel that shone a pale silver. Will closed his eyes to envision the blade as he believed he saw it, and once he did, his heart seemed to change, and the perfect name arose.

"This dagger which I now hold in my hands," he proclaimed, "This dagger, is the dagger of silence and strength; the dagger bathed in fire and light. I dub this blade henceforth as… Lucid Inferno."

* * *

**A/N: So Will has a really cool dagger! I'll be honest, it took a while to think of the name :P And what could the other knife be? Only I know, unless you're really smart and somehow know what it is, but I doubt that's the case (knowing what it is; ****not**** being smart). So I wonder if I'm starting to shift my writing style a little from when I started the story, because I have no idea, and it matters if I have. So sorry if I have, I need to figure it out again. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Leave a review if you wish. Until next time!**


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